"l guess I'll go patrol around again," Ax said. "l haven't seen or heard anything unusual, though. Do you really think we can lead these Hork-Bajir safely to this mountain valley you mentioned earlier?"

I didn't answer. Mentioning the valley just reminded me. "Ax? Have you ever just had information pop into your head and not know where it came from?"

"No. I don't think so. Maybe something I forgot and then remembered later."

"No, this is like stuff I couldn't possibly know. It's like . . . " I froze.

Taxxons!

They were crawling through the woods. I could see them in my mind - huge centipedes, each as big around as a redwood tree. They moved on dozens of rows of needle-sharp legs. They held the upper third of their bodies erect, keeping their fragile rows of upper legs clear of the ground.

I could see them in my mind! I could see the gasping round mouths ringed with teeth. I could seethe jelly-glob eyes.

"Tobias?" Ax asked, sounding concerned.

"Taxxons," I said. "There are definitely Taxxons coming!"

"Where?" Ax asked in alarm. His tail cocked back, ready for a fight.

"l . . . they're coming. !..."! looked around me at the dark woods. No sign of anything strange. Let alone Taxxons. But I was dead sure they were coming, just the same.

"Ax? You know how I was just talking about

knowing things I couldn't possibly know? It just happened again. Just now. There are like a dozen Taxxons coming this way. Somehow they can smell the Hork-Bajir. Like bloodhounds."

All four of Ax's eyes looked up at me. He looked grim. "Taxxon trackers can sense warm flesh from miles away, as long as they have a sample.

They're a special breed of Taxxon. How did you know that? How did you know Taxxon trackers hunt by smell?"

"l don't know, Ax. But I am sure going to find out," I said angrily.

"Someone or something is using me, and I don't like it very much." Ax ignored my outburst. "lf the Yeerks have sent Taxxons, they'll back them up with Hork-Bajir or humans. No amount of Taxxons could ever destroy a pair of Hork-Bajir. Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak could slice up Taxxons all day."

"Can we throw the Taxxons off the scent?" I asked.

"No. If they have smelled these Hork-Bajir, nothing will throw them off."

"Then we have to move the Hork-Bajir. Now. Taxxons can't be all that fast. But we need to move out. Ax? I can get the Hork-Bajir started. You have to get to Jake quickly. Tell him what's happening."

"Yes, Tobias. I'll do that. But how will we find you if you're busy hiding from the Yeerks?"

"Take to the air. You all have bird of raptor morphs - eagles, ospreys, falcons. Use them. There's nothing raptor eyes can't find. I'll be heading toward the mountains."

Heading toward the mountains with a pair of Hork-Bajir, while someone or something used me like a sock puppet.

Well, that was going to change. I was the predator. I was the hunter. No one was going to use me.

" Jara Hamee, we have to go. Right now," I told the Hork-Bajir as Ax ran off into the night.

Jara stuck his bladed snakelike head out through the bushes. "What has happened?"

"Taxxons are tracking you."

I swear he went pale. His narrow eyes widened in fear. "Taxxon," he said, as if the very word made him want to spit.

But he reacted very quickly after that. He went back into the cave and came back out with Ket. I still couldn't really tell one of them from the other. At least not in the dark.

"Dark," Ket said, looking around.

"Yeah, I know. But I guess that won't stop the Taxxons. So let's get going." But how exactly we were supposed to move through the pitch-black forest, I had no idea. I couldn't see. And to my disappointment, the Hork-Bajir were not all that good at seeing in the dark, either.

It was tough going. I couldn't exactly drag my feathers through thorn bushes. The Hork-Bajir couldn't fly. And it was totally dark. The kind of dark you only get when you are a long way from the lights of homes and cars and streetlamps. It was so dark you couldn't see a tree till you ran into it. It was like being blind.

I rode on Jara Hamee's horns, just like I had with Rachel. Only we were moving more slowly and trying not to leave tracks.

"Where?" Jara Hamee asked. "Go where?"

"l don't really know," I grumbled. "l guess the little voice in my head will tell me."

The Hork-Bajir grunted, like that made perfect sense to him. "My head voice told me to run."

"When? What voice?"

I couldn't see his face, so I couldn't see his expression. Not that I would have known what a Hork-Bajir expression meant, anyway. "Ket Hal-pak and Jara Hamee at Yeerk pool. Yeerk drained out. Yeerk in pool.

Head voice say, 'Run. Go that way!'"

I sighed and narrowly avoided getting slapped

in the face by a branch. Talking to Hork-Bajir is frustrating.

"You're saying the idea just popped into your head to run away from the Yeerk pool?" I asked.

"Head say, 'Run, Jara Hamee. Take Ket Hal-pak. Run and be free. Run from Yeerks.' I ask how? How will Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak be free? Head say, 'I will send a guide.'"

"What?"

"Head say, 'Run, Jara Hamee -'"

"No, that last part. About a guide."

"Head voice say, 'I will send a guide.'"

"Who? Me?"

The Hork-Bajir didn't answer. I was quickly coming to realize that Hork-Bajir don't really get a lot of things. Speech seems unnatural to them. And it's true, they are not the geniuses of the universe. Which was fine.

But I was getting more and more annoyed by the whole thing. I had been moved around, put in one place or another. Things I couldn't possibly know had popped into my head. I was being used. And I really didn't like the idea of that.

I deeply didn't like the idea of that.

"0kay, that does it. Stop," I told the two Hork-Bajir.