The Encounter by K. A. Applegate Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: K. A. Applegate
She rummaged for a minute, then came back to me. She was holding a small photograph. She turned it so I could see.
It was me. The me I used to be.
I said.
She nodded. “It’s not a great picture. In real life you look better.”
I echoed.
“Tobias, someday the Andalites will return. If they don’t, we’re all lost, all the human race. If they do come back, I know they’ll have some way to return you to your own body.”
I said.
“I am sure,” she said. She put every ounce of faith into those three words. She wanted me to believe. But I could see the tears that were threatening to well up in her eyes as she lied.
Like I said, hawks don’t miss much.
CHAPTER 13
T alking to Rachel helped. A little, anyway. I spent the night in my drawer in Jake’s attic.
I spent the next day flying around, waiting for my friends to get out of school. In some ways, I realized, my situation wasn’t all bad. For one thing, I had no homework. For another, I could fly. How many average kids can hit forty miles per hour in level flight and break eighty in a stoop — a dive?
I went to the beach and rode the thermals there. It was best where the cliffs pressed right up against the blue ocean.
I saw some prey, some mice and voles in thegrass along the top of the cliff, but I ignored them. I was Tobias. I was human.
Jake had called a meeting for all of us for that evening in his room. Tom, Jake’s brother, would be away at a meeting of The Sharing.
The Sharing is a front for the Yeerks. They pretend it’s just some kind of Boy Scouts or whatever, but its real purpose is to recruit hosts for the Yeerks.
I’ve gotten into the habit of checking people’s watches from up in the air. Also, you know how banks sometimes will have a big sign showing the time and temperature? Those are helpful, too.
It’s strange the things you miss when you lose your human body. Like showers. Like really sleeping, all the way, totally passed out. Or like knowing what time it is.
In the afternoon I flew back to the school. I drifted around overhead till it let out. Then I waited till I saw Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco come out. They appeared separately. Marco had pointed out that it was bad security for them to be seen together all the time.
I followed the bus with Jake and Rachel in it. They lived closest, just a few blocks away from each other. Marco lived in some apartments on the other side of the boulevard. He lived with just his dad, since his mom drowned a few years ago.
Cassie had to travel farthest, out to the farm, which was about a mile from the others. For me it was about a three-minute flight.
Like I say, there are some good things about having wings. I guess really it’s okay most of the time. Really.
I floated on a nice thermal above Jake’s house, waiting for him to get home. I saw him get off the bus and go inside. I couldn’t see Rachel from where I was because there were trees in the way, but I did see Marco for just a second or two.
I concentrated on watching my friends. That way I didn’t notice the squirrels in the trees as much. Or the mice that poked their little noses from their holes and sniffed the air.
After a while I saw Tom leave Jake’s house.
Tom looks just like Jake, only he’s bigger and has shorter hair. I’d never really known Tom well. But it was during the doomed attempt to rescue him from the Yeerk pool that I was trapped.
He headed down the street, acting nonchalant. Then, a block away, a car pulled up and opened a door. He jumped in.
Off to his meeting of The Sharing.
After a while, I saw the others start to head for Jake’s house. I could identify Rachel easily. She was practicing for her gymnastics class as she walked. Shewould walk along the edges of curbs, pretending they were balance beams.
I flew in Jake’s window once everyone was there. I didn’t want it to look like I’d been hanging around
It was me. The me I used to be.
I said.
She nodded. “It’s not a great picture. In real life you look better.”
“Tobias, someday the Andalites will return. If they don’t, we’re all lost, all the human race. If they do come back, I know they’ll have some way to return you to your own body.”
I said.
“I am sure,” she said. She put every ounce of faith into those three words. She wanted me to believe. But I could see the tears that were threatening to well up in her eyes as she lied.
Like I said, hawks don’t miss much.
CHAPTER 13
T alking to Rachel helped. A little, anyway. I spent the night in my drawer in Jake’s attic.
I spent the next day flying around, waiting for my friends to get out of school. In some ways, I realized, my situation wasn’t all bad. For one thing, I had no homework. For another, I could fly. How many average kids can hit forty miles per hour in level flight and break eighty in a stoop — a dive?
I went to the beach and rode the thermals there. It was best where the cliffs pressed right up against the blue ocean.
I saw some prey, some mice and voles in thegrass along the top of the cliff, but I ignored them. I was Tobias. I was human.
Jake had called a meeting for all of us for that evening in his room. Tom, Jake’s brother, would be away at a meeting of The Sharing.
The Sharing is a front for the Yeerks. They pretend it’s just some kind of Boy Scouts or whatever, but its real purpose is to recruit hosts for the Yeerks.
I’ve gotten into the habit of checking people’s watches from up in the air. Also, you know how banks sometimes will have a big sign showing the time and temperature? Those are helpful, too.
It’s strange the things you miss when you lose your human body. Like showers. Like really sleeping, all the way, totally passed out. Or like knowing what time it is.
In the afternoon I flew back to the school. I drifted around overhead till it let out. Then I waited till I saw Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco come out. They appeared separately. Marco had pointed out that it was bad security for them to be seen together all the time.
I followed the bus with Jake and Rachel in it. They lived closest, just a few blocks away from each other. Marco lived in some apartments on the other side of the boulevard. He lived with just his dad, since his mom drowned a few years ago.
Cassie had to travel farthest, out to the farm, which was about a mile from the others. For me it was about a three-minute flight.
Like I say, there are some good things about having wings. I guess really it’s okay most of the time. Really.
I floated on a nice thermal above Jake’s house, waiting for him to get home. I saw him get off the bus and go inside. I couldn’t see Rachel from where I was because there were trees in the way, but I did see Marco for just a second or two.
I concentrated on watching my friends. That way I didn’t notice the squirrels in the trees as much. Or the mice that poked their little noses from their holes and sniffed the air.
After a while I saw Tom leave Jake’s house.
Tom looks just like Jake, only he’s bigger and has shorter hair. I’d never really known Tom well. But it was during the doomed attempt to rescue him from the Yeerk pool that I was trapped.
He headed down the street, acting nonchalant. Then, a block away, a car pulled up and opened a door. He jumped in.
Off to his meeting of The Sharing.
After a while, I saw the others start to head for Jake’s house. I could identify Rachel easily. She was practicing for her gymnastics class as she walked. Shewould walk along the edges of curbs, pretending they were balance beams.
I flew in Jake’s window once everyone was there. I didn’t want it to look like I’d been hanging around
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