"Cassie's right," Marco chimed in. "He's weaseling. He's trying to distract you."

"Yeah, you're both right," I said. Then to Fenestre I said, "lf you want to live, answer my questions. Answer me, and you'll live. Lie . . ." I let the threat hang in the air.

Fenestre looked at me long and hard. "I suppose I'll have to rely on Andalite honor," he said in a mocking tone. "All right. My brother has not killed me because I have information he wants and needs. He doesn't want me dead, he wants me in his torture chamber aboard his Blade ship.

You see, I have found a way to survive without the Kandrona. And Visser Three would give anything to know how."

Fenestre lowered the Dracon beam he'd been pointing at Ax. "There's a way to process and refine Kandrona rays from another source. It can be made into an edible product. A food, so to speak, that I can consume with my human mouth and digest."

I felt a cold chill. If that was true, there would be no stopping the Yeerks. Their reliance on Yeerk pools and Kandrona rays was one of their greatest weaknesses.

"You're lying," I said. "lf there was a way to keep Yeerks alive without Kandrona rays and Yeerk pools, that information would make you invulnerable, even to your brothers

This time the wintry smile was even colder. If that's possible. "Oh, maybe not. For one thing, there is a long, involved process. But that's not the problem. The problem is the raw material. The raw material is my brother Yeerks. I must destroy and process and consume a Yeerk every three days to survive. I have become a cannibal."

"Whoa," Marco said.

"My brother would use this process for himself. But, as you can imagine, it would never become popular around the Yeerk Empire."

"You really are Visser Three's twin," I said. I felt sick. Then I felt sicker. "How do you get the Yeerks?"

He shrugged. "What do you think that silly Yeerk forum is about, that silly mix of fact and fiction? I control Web Access America. I know the identity of all the screen names. The chat room is

full of different types: people who are actually Controllers, trying to throw suspicious humans offtrack; humans who have discovered our little invasion and are trying to rally opposition to us; and then, there's me. I spot the Controllers. I spot the humans who think they have found family members who are Yeerks. I monitor the real gung ho Yeerk-fighters who identify potential Controllers. I track down the screen names. I find the Yeerks. One every three days. Ten a month."

"Cool by me," Marco whispered. "Give the man a pat on the back, and let's get Ax and Rachel outta here."

I had the same feeling. Fenestre was a sickening creature, but as vile as he might be, he was wiping out a hundred or more Yeerks per year. So much the better.

But then Cassie exploded. "How are you getting the Yeerks from the human hosts?!"

Fenestre cocked an eyebrow at her. He seemed surprised. I saw a shadow of suspicion in his eyes. Cassie's question had not been whispered. It had been shouted angrily.

Why, he was asking himself, would an Andalite care?

"How am I getting the Yeerks from their human hosts?" His face was dark.

His eyes empty. "How do you think I get them?"

Cassie let loose a growl and was racing toward Fenestre before I could say a word. He raised his Dracon beam. I leaped through the air.

I landed, paws outstretched but claws retracted, on Cassie. I knocked her wolf body sprawling across the floor.

"What are you doing?!" she yelled.

"We aren't here to annihilate this guy," I said. "l told him we wouldn't."

"Do you know what he's doing? Do you under-stand?" Cassie cried.

"l know. I know. I KNOW!" I screamed in frustration. "But I told him he was safe. I promised. Besides . . ."

"No! Don't say it, Jake. If you say that I won't

be able to deal with you anymore. So don't say it." I felt like she'd punched me. In my own, real face. What had I been about to say? Was I really going to say it was okay for this creature to go on doing what he did, as long as he got the Yeerks?

Was I going to say that? Me?

"l wasn't going to say what you think," I said lamely.

Cassie didn't answer. She's good at spotting lies. Too good.

"!...! don't think . . ." I stammered.

"That kid, Gump. That kid who was worried about his dad," Cassie said.

"That lonely little kid. That's who this monster goes after. Jake. Not some abstract person with no face and no name. He'll wait until Gump does something stupid. Till he confesses his fears to his Controller father, and his father makes him a Controller, too. Then Fenestre will go after them."

"What do you expect me to do?" I asked her. "You want to get rid of this man because he's evil? Do you want to do it yourself, Cassie?"

"You . . . your morph would do It better," she said.

"You want me to get rid of him for you?" I asked. "That's what you want?" Fenestre just stood there, waiting, as a wolf and a tiger bristled, face-to-face. He was trying

to figure something out. But I could see from his eyes that the truth had not come to him, yet.

I backed away from Cassie. I turned back to Fenestre. "My friend has lost friends in battle against your people. She is emotional." He nodded, unimpressed. "We've all lost friends in this unpleasantness."

"Release my two friends," I said. "We'll let you live. We'll walk away.

As long as you are in this house, we won't harm you. But I'll tell you so you'll know: If we ever catch up with you in the outside world, that protection will not exist."

It was a stupid little threat. I said it to make myself feel better.

Ax and Rachel were released. The instant Fenestre turned off the bio-stasis fields, Ax continued to morph back into his normal Andalite shape.

I stared hard at Rachel. Was she breathing? Yes!

Was there still time to get her back into her own body?

"Rachel! Can you hear me?"

"Huh? What? Oh, man! What am I doing here?"