I sat there holding on tight. I was tense and scared and ready for trouble. But at least I was in

for the fight, you know? At least I wasn't off somewhere safe while the others ran all the risks.

"You guys!" Cassie called down from above. "Stop chasing those Controllers! They're setting up a trap. They're leading you right between two bunches of bad guys!"

"0ops. Time to turn around," I told Rachel.

"Yep."

She turned and started running in a new direction. She was like some big tank, and I was the hood ornament.

Then . . .

"Yaaahhh!" Rachel cried. She pitched forward. I pitched forward. We hit the ground hard, and rolled through a juniper bush.

"Sorry. I tripped. You okay, Tobias?"

"Yeah. I think so."

I was caught in the branches of the bush. I couldn't fight too hard to get out or I'd damage my feathers.

Slice!

Slice!

Suddenly the juniper branches were gone.

"AII right! I like these blades," Rachel said. "Excellent!"

I fluttered my wings and hopped up to get back on Rachel's horns. But I must have overshot my goal because suddenly I was flying through the air.

No, wait! Hold on! I was up above the trees! Impossible!

How did I get here? I hadn't even flown. I'd barely hopped and now I was up in the sky? What the . . . ?

I did a quick turnaround, trying to figure out where I was. The sun was setting fast and there wasn't enough light for me to use my full powers of sight. But I wasn't blind, either. I saw a horned owl floating just at treetop level. Cassie. But she was so far away. Maybe a quarter mile!

"No way," I said in total confusion.

Then I heard gunfire. Quite close. In fact, just beneath me.

BLAM! BLAM!

A human voice yelled, "Freeze! Freeze or I put the next shot in your second heart."

There was a small clearing below me. I knew the meadow. It was the territory of a Swainson's hawk. Not as nice as my own meadow, but a nice territory, anyway.

But I wasn't looking for mice in this clearing. I saw three humans, each well-armed, surrounding a single Hork-Bajir.

Rachel?

No. Couldn't be. She was back . . . back where I should be. Was it Jara Hamee himself? What was going on?

I noticed that one of the human-Controllers

seemed to be sick. He was doubling over, like he was having a spasm.

No, wait! He was morphing!

It took a few seconds for me to be sure. But when I saw the extra stalk eyes appear and the sharp-tipped tail, I knew. It was an Andalite.

There are only two Andalites on planet Earth. One is Ax. The other is not a true Andalite at all. It's a Yeerk who uses an Andalite body.

The only Andalite-Controller in all the galaxy.

The only Yeerk to have the power to morph.

Our greatest enemy, leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth, murderer of Ax's brother, Elfangor.

Visser Three.

Andalites always look like they're right on the borderline between cute and dangerous. But with Visser Three, that line doesn't even exist.

It's not that he looks any different outside. I mean, he looks like an older Andalite is all. But there is some dark, evil glow that shines from within him. And when you meet him you have no doubt ... no doubt at all that he is dangerous.

Deadly dangerous.

"Guys?" I called in thought-speak. "Um, Jake? Rachel?"

No answer. I was too far away from them.

The Andalite body emerged fully from the human form it had morphed.

"Well, well, Ket Halpak," Visser Three said.

"That is your name, isn't it? Your original Hork-Bajir name? You've run us a nice chase, but it's time to come home now."

Visser Three seldom bothered to whisper his thought-speak. I guess when you're that powerful it never occurs to you to worry that someone might overhear.

Ket Halpak, he had called the Hork-Bajir. So it was not Jara Hamee. This was his kalashi. His wife.

They had her surrounded. Two humans carrying shotguns and Visser Three, armed with all the lightning speed of an Andalite. Not to mention morphs from all the dark corners of the galaxy.

There was no way to save the Hork-Bajir female. I'd have to take Visser Three out, and that wasn't going to happen. See, Andalites - even false Andalites - are impossible to sneak up on.

Those extra stalk eyes, turning this way and that, always looking in every direction, made it impossible.

Unless . . .

Unless there was a distraction. I knew the Swainson's hawk tended to roost in one particular elm tree. The light was too dim to see him. He might not even be there. But if he was . . .

I flapped hard to gain altitude. Not too much, there wasn't time. Just enough. Forty feet. Fifty

feet. Sixty feet. Then ... I folded my wings and plummeted toward the ground.

"Tseeeeeeeeer!" I screamed in the voice of a red-tail.

"Tseeeeeeeeer!" I called again, making sure the Swainson's hawk would hear me.

And down I came, wings back and tail narrowed for maximum speed. I aimed straight for Visser Three.

If the Swainson's hawk wasn't home, I was toast.

Then, a rustling sound from the elm! From the corner of my eye I saw wings flapping. The Swainson's was coming out to defend his territory against the pushy red-tail.

I've never been so relieved to see a fellow hawk.

"That bird! It's probably one of them!" Visser Three shouted, pointing at the Swainson's.

The two human-Controllers spun and raised their shotguns to their shoulders. And Visser Three, bless his evil heart, turned his stalk eyes toward what he thought was a threat.

"l'm a friend of Jara Hamee," I said to the Hork-Bajir. "Get ready!" Talons forward! Beak thrust out! A sudden flaring of wings to adjust the angle and . . .