Disclaimer: All hail the wondrous KA Applegate, for her vision and incredible style of writing has made this story, and it's author, possible. She owns all Animorph related characters, situations and termonology. I own Sarah. That's about it.

Author's Notes: Thought-speech is denoted by double-parenthises (( )) . This is a sequel to my first story, Sarah's Beginning. You can read this before that story, but it may not make much sense.

A friend hears the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.

My name is Sarah. I am thirteen years old and I live in The Hole. It's a place for teenagers who have no existing family, which is only partially true for me. I do have family; I just can't live with them for rather complicated reasons.

What are those reasons? Well for one thing, they live almost on the other side of the galaxy. I was adopted, you see, and my family isn't even the same species as me. I'm not saying I'm Moglie or anything; I wasn't raised by wolves: I was raised by aliens.

Now you think I'm nuts, but that's fine. I don't need you to believe me for it to be true. There are aliens in this universe, and most of the galaxy is at war right now. The bad guys, if you will, are called Yeerks. They are parasites who crawl into a victim's ear and take over their minds. You are aware of everything, but you can't do anything to stop it. You can't scream unless the Yeerk wants you to. And they have taken over a large part of the galaxy already.

The good guys, however, are Andalites. They look like centaurs, but not exactly. They have deadly blades on their tails and they can morph into animals. This morphing ability is actually a technology, not a birthright. Which is why when they adopted me, they gave this technology to me. They're at war with the Yeerk slugs, trying to save the universe. I used to fight together with my brothers, until my older brother was killed. Now I fight along side other humans.

I always find it strange how things work out in this world. I ended up where I began. I ended up fighting my former Guardian, as well. He raised me since I was two years old, until I was adopted. He is a Yeerk. He is a cold-hearted killer, who is responsible for my brother's death. This is why I fight him; not just for revenge for my brother, but also for myself: to right all the wrongs I did when I was under his care.

He did teach me much when I was under his care, I must admit. He taught me math and the sciences. In fact, I'm the smartest kid in my math and science classes at school. My math teacher skips over me every other test so that I don't end up passing his course with over a hundred percent. I can solve almost any math problem in my head, and can do just about any science experiment my teacher can give me.

What I'm not good at, unfortunately, is history and geography. My Guardian never bothered to teach me these things, as he was an alien and had no interest in human history. So, because of my strengths and weaknesses, my friends Jake and Marco and I made a deal: I will help them with their math and science homework, to prepare for the tests they have, and in exchange, they will prepare me for the history test.

"I still don't understand why we can't do this at your house," Marco muttered, leading us to his house. Other than Cassie, who I consider my best friend, after my little brother, I have never been to my friends' houses. I didn't answer Marco because I knew he was talking to Jake.

Jake is the leader of our resistance group. We fight the Yeerks under his rule. Marco is his best friend; Cassie is his girlfriend, though he will not admit it out loud. There's also Rachel, a deadly, yet beautiful fighter, who is Jake's cousin, Tobias, a nothlit who stayed beyond the morphing technology's time limit of two hours and is therefore stuck as a red-tailed hawk, and finally my little brother Aximili.

Jake answered his friend's query. "Because Tom is home."

Tom is Jake's brother and as I learned recently, he is also a Yeerk. "So what?" Marco asked. "We're studying math, not talking about other things."

"I don't want Sarah in my house," Jake stated simply. It sounds like an insult, but I know it wasn't. He meant that as a safety precaution. Because Tom is a Yeerk, we couldn't run the risk of saying or doing something that could compromise our situation. As far as the Yeerks knew, we're Andalites who survived the Dome ship crash. Jake wants to keep it that way.

Now there was no guarantee that Marco's dad wasn't a Yeerk, but it'll be easier to sneak around him than Tom. "I don't really want her at my house, either," Marco said.

"Why not?"

I was used to people talking about me in the third person, so I just continued walking as normal, slightly behind Jake, as he was the leader. Marco answered, "Because she's a girl! You know what my dad says every time a girl I'm not related to comes over!"

"Look at her! I don't think he'll say anything." I rolled my eyes. They assumed I was going to eat his soul with a look from my eye. That may have been true at one point, but ever since I found out my little brother wasn't killed in the Dome ship crash, my look has relaxed a lot.

Marco looked right at me and asked, "Can you morph a guy or something? Just for the purposes of this study thing?"

"No," I answered. Most of the time, my answers were short and to the point.

"Relax, man, everything will be okay," Jake assured. Marco took a deep breath and tried to look unbothered, but he failed. I didn't understand what he was so worried about. His father couldn't have been that bad.

When we reached the porch of Marco's place, he stopped the entourage and looked at me again. "I just want to apologize right now for everything my dad is about to say and do."

I raised an eyebrow. "Nothing he says will insult me."

"I'm worried more about me."

"Relax!" Jake said again. "Just hurry up. I don't want to be studying forever." Marco huffed and opened the door to his house. He stepped in first, shouting his arrival, following by Jake and lastly me.

Marco's dad came to the door to greet us. "Hey, Marco," he said instantly. "Hey, Jake. I'm sorry, who are you?" He looked at me expectantly.

"Uh, this is my friend, Sarah," Marco introduced. "From school. She's in my math class. In fact, we're studying math together. Uh, with Jake. The three of us are studying math -"

"Friend?" his father said. "Nice to meet you."

I nodded. "Sir."

"Sir? Geez, how old do you think I am?"

"Older than me, and therefore 'sir'."

He laughed. "I like this one!" He put his hand right on my head and ruffled my hair. It annoyed me tremendously, but I didn't say anything. I even managed to resist the urge to break his wrist, because he was my Elder and it would have been disrespectful.

He walked back towards the kitchen. "I'm just finishing up the dishes and doing some other chores. You guys wanna help clean the living room?"

"No, dad; we have to study math!" Marco objected.

"I'll pay you."

"Consider it clean!" He went to pick up an empty bag of chips.

"Marco, we have a test tomorrow in science," Jake reminded, arms folded.

"Come on, man! We're getting paid!"

They stood staring at each other for a while, and then Jake sighed and unfolded his arms. "Fine, we'll clean the living room, but then we study!"

"Works for me!" I just stood there, watching. The two of them worked very hard and very fast. Marco was motivated by his father's wallet and Jake was just doing it for his friend's sake. I had no reason to help, as I was motivated by neither, and therefore just stood there.

"Aren't you going to help, Sarah?" Jake asked.

"There is no reason for me to."

"Money?"

"I don't need money."

Jake hesitated. "How about because I said so?"

I narrowed my eyes, but said, "Very well." I went over to a corner of the room and began picking up chip bags, abandoned wrappers, pop cans, and other such trash.

"Wow," said Marco. "If Jake says it, she'll do anything!"

"Shut up, Marco," Jake said. He looked at me. "You know, you can just tell me I'm wrong or just not do what I say."

"I'll do that if I believe your order is not valid."

Marco muttered to his friend, "She's just like Ax."

"He is my brother," I pointed out.

Marco's dad came into the room then. "Done the dishes; how are things out here? You missed a spot, Marco."

"Hey, I don't see you on your hands and knees here!"

"I spent all day cleaning."

"And I spent all day at school. That's a fulltime job right there." They laughed. They were just like each other. They matched wits perfectly. I could see why they were related.

His dad plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV, putting his feet up on the coffee table. "Ah, it's good to be relaxing."

"Shut up, dad."

We continued our work until the living room was free of clutter. There were a lot of garbage in here, but I made no mention of it. This is how they lived, so as long as they cleaned up, there was no problem.

When Marco had put the last of the garbage in the trash can, he walked up to his father and asked, "Money?"

"Let me look at the final product." He turned off the TV and stood up, surveying the room. He was nodding his approval as he reached into his back pocket for his wallet. "Nice job. Let's never get it this bad again."

"You say that every time."

He chuckled. He pulled out of his wallet three five dollar bills and gave one to each of us. "I do believe you passed your initiation," he said to me as he handed me the money. "I put all of Marco's friends through an initiation."

"No you don't, dad."

"Quiet! I'm trying to freak out your friend here."

"She's Death! You can't freak her out!"

"That's not very polite!"

"Look at her and tell me otherwise."

"Thank you, sir," I said, putting the money into my own pocket.

"And if you call me 'sir' one more time, I'll…" He stopped to think. When he came up with nothing, he said, "I'll think of something."

"Yes, sir."

Marco and Jake laughed at that. I didn't see why it was so funny. I was taught to call my Elders 'sir' because it's respectable. He and Cassie's dad think it makes them sound old, but I don't see why.

"Can we study now?" Marco asked.

"Sure," replied his father, "just keep the door open." He snickered as his son punched him in the arm. "Ow!"

"Come on; my room's upstairs." He led us to the staircase. I waited for Jake to pass by me before I followed. I took about two steps when something caught the corner of my eye. I turned to look on the end table at the other end of the couch, expecting to see a strange object of value, or possibly a book or something, but I was wrong. What I saw was a photograph.

It was a park-like setting. There were three smiling people in the picture: one was Marco, obviously when he was much younger, the other was his father, and as soon as I saw the third, I was hit with a wave of memories, all bad, of a screaming little girl, several assassination attempts, insult after insult, orders, armies, pain, torture, slavery and a lot of contempt.

I think the mixed emotion on my face was more than a little present, because I heard Marco's father ask, very concerned, "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

I shook my head, hoping to clear my face back to a neutral look, and replied, "Nothing, sorry; I guess the cleaning made me a little woozy, that's all."

I knew Jake and Marco weren't buying it, but the father seemed satisfied. He did ask, "Can I get you some water?"

"No, sir, thank you." I nodded towards the photograph. "I would like to know who the woman in the picture is, please."

"Uh, I think we should hurry and get some studying done," Marco said, in a very rushed and somewhat desperate voice. Jake's eyes were narrowed, but I do believe he was trying to give me an unspoken order of the same line as Marco's request.

Before I could take back the request, Marco's dad looked over at the picture, smiled sadly and replied, "That's Eva. She was my wife before she died."

I choked on my own spit. I brought a hand to my neck and coughed. It took a third cough before I could clear my throat. Marco's dad jumped to his feet and said, "I'll get you some water," then rushed to the kitchen.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Marco hissed at me as soon as his father was gone.

I opened my mouth to speak and coughed again. Marco's dad came back into the living room and gave me the glass of water. I took it and drained it, coughed one more time, then was fine. I finally managed to speak, "I'm sorry; I got some dust caught in my throat."

"You don't do a lot of cleaning, do you?" asked his father.

"No; not really I suppose."

"Are you sure you're okay now?"

"Yes, yes. We have a lot of studying to do."

"Yeah; lots. See you." Marco rushed upstairs, but Jake managed to walk with me instead. I think it was a way to keep me going as opposed to standing in the living room with my eyes focused on something they shouldn't have been.

I don't even think I was supposed to see that photograph.

The door to his bedroom didn't even close behind us before Marco hissed, "What's wrong with you?!"

"Nothing."

"You made quite a scene down there!"

"Wrong; I restrained myself. I was fairly close to making a scene, but I stopped myself before I could."

"I take it then," Jake interrupted before Marco could say anything else, "you've seen her before?"

"Sir, I respect you as a leader but I have to ask: are you truly that stupid?" I think my comment shocked them both, as they just stood there, staring. I added, "Of course I've seen her! She's V -" I stopped. I was speaking rather loudly. I think they understood anyway, because Marco avoided my gaze and Jake just sighed.

Hushed, Jake said, "Well, we don't like bringing it up, okay? So don't talk about it anymore."

I nodded, fully willing to obey, but Marco started talking again. "Are you going to start feeling sorry for me now? Are you going to pity me? Pat me on the back and tell me everything's okay; that it's okay my mother is a bloody murderer and we'll get her back someday? Are you going to tell me that?"

"No," I replied.

"Why not? Everyone else pitied me my whole life."

"Just because everyone else does something doesn't mean I will." There was a pause in which I spoke again. I knew Jake was trying to shut me up, but I said it anyway: "I should have seen the resemblance earlier. I don't know why I didn't make the connection sooner."

"What would have happened if you did?" Marco demanded.

"I would have told you what I'm going to tell you now." He waited. Even Jake wanted to hear me out. I said, "Just because she was your mother at one point, she isn't now. And if I ever see her, and I have even half a chance, I will kill her. I won't even stop to think about it."

Marco huffed. He looked like he was going to cry but did a great job stopping it. "If you're going to try to kill her, then I'm going to stop you."

"You're welcome to try."

"That's enough!" Jake finally said. We looked at him. "We won't talk about this anymore, understood? If we ever have to make that decision, and let's hope we don't, then I will make that decision, okay?"

I nodded. So did Marco. The silence that followed was short, but very much on edge. I didn't feel like studying anymore. I think our exchange has made my friendship with Marco strained. I was afraid one small thing could snap that very tight cord.

Time went on for a while until Marco's bedroom door opened. His father came in. "Hey, guys, I told you to keep this door opened," he said. His smile was annoying me. When he looked at our serious faces, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I replied. "I would like to go home now." I looked back at Jake, who nodded slightly. I instantly left the room.

On my way out, I heard Marco's dad ask, "What's up with her?" But that was all I heard before I left the house. I marched down the street until I got my mind back together. What I said was out of line, I know, but I meant it and will stand by it. I found myself heading towards Cassie's house. She understood the emotional side of things better than I did, so she could help me make a better decision if the time came to do so.

It took me more than an hour to walk to her place. In that time, I managed to calm down a great deal more. I walked up her driveway and stood in front of the door. I didn't even knock on it when Cassie opened it. "Hi, Sarah. Jake told me you were coming."

"What?"

"He said you and he were at Marco's place studying and you forgot that you gave me your history notes to look over." I was still very confused, but I looked over her shoulder and saw her parents were within hearing range. That explained it.

"Uh, yes. Could I get them back, please?"

"Sure." She picked up a bunch of random papers on an end table close to the door. "I'm going to walk Sarah back to Marco's place."

"Have fun," her father said, and then Cassie left the house. I noticed the papers she picked up were blank and she instantly put them in the trash bin outside her house when we passed it.

"Wanna tell me what's wrong?" she asked.

"How did Jake know I'd come here?" I asked back.

She shrugged. "It was either here or in the forest with Ax."

I sighed. My movements were getting to be a little predictable. "I just found out one of my best friends is related to one of my least favourite people in the universe."

"And how should that affect anything?"

"Because I want to kill her."

"Oh." We walked in silence for a while. I found we were walking to the forest. It would be nice to see my brother again. "Why do you want to kill her?"

"Why do you think? She's the highest ranking Yeerk in the empire, after the Council of Thirteen. Her death will create confusion and fear among the empire, and therefore will give us more than a simple upper hand. Plus, once wind of her death reaches the Andalites, the war will turn in our favour."

"All of which you don't care about," Cassie stated.

"Of course I care about it."

"No, there's a more underlying reason for your insistence on killing her. There's a more personal reason. If it was a simple matter of politics, you wouldn't have told Marco to his face that you were going to kill his mother."

And that is why I came to Cassie instead of Aximili. He would have just agreed with me, because he's an Andalite and strongly believes that his people will prevail. He's very much in tune with the politics of the universe and would have believed that my decision was correct.

Not Cassie. She was emotional and understood feelings. She also knew me. I really was becoming more predictable. I sighed but said nothing. Cassie understood. "You wanna tell me what she did?"

I snorted. "That's a long story."

"You've told me long stories before."

"This is really a long story."

"In other words, you don't feel like talking about it."

"That's right."

"Okay." We walked down the path of the forest for a while. Having Cassie with me was a lot better for me than walking alone. She didn't have to say anything for me to realize the calmness of the situation.

"Maybe I should apologize to Marco." That came out like more of a suggestion than a statement.

"Would you mean it if you did?"

"No."

"Then don't. Not until you can mean it. Otherwise, it'll sound like pity, and he hates pity."

"I know. I do too."

We walked in silence for a while. The forest sounds were getting louder as we went deeper into the woods. Soon we veered off the path and walked into a thicker part of the trees, yet I didn't feel lost at all. I knew exactly where we were going. We came across a small meadow after walking for ten minutes, and upon our approach, I saw a red-tailed hawk perched on a tree, almost as if waiting for us.

"Hi Tobias," Cassie said, giving a small wave.

((What took you so long?)) Tobias asked, in thought speech. ((I could see and hear you guys from yards away.))

"Were you always such a braggart?" I asked, smirking.

((Ever since becoming better than human, yeah.)) We laughed at that. ((If you're looking for Ax, he's over by the water hole.)) He turned his head to the side, and if I didn't know better, it looked as if he was nodding in that direction.

"Thanks." I picked up the pace a bit and headed towards the water hole close to Tobias' tree. Cassie stayed behind with Tobias, probably to explain what was going on. I saw my brother a little ways away, and I jogged to get to him.

He looked up at me and smiled in a way that only Andalites could do: with his eyes. ((Hello, Sarah. What brings you to the forest?))

"You," I replied. I didn't say anything for a moment though, but when I did, I couldn't look him in the eye. "I found out who Visser One is."

Aximili sighed in my head in silent understanding. ((Ah.)) We stood there for a moment. ((What will you do about it?))

"I don't know."

((But you knew before coming here.))

"Yeah, but now I'm not so sure."

((Because she's your friend's mother?))

"No; because Jake told me not to make a decision on the matter."

((You don't care about who she is?))

"Who she is right now is a Yeerk. Who she was before doesn't matter."

((And if she wasn't a Yeerk now, would you still wish her dead?))

I said nothing. Again, I avoided his gaze. I heard Cassie coming up to us, so I focused my attention on her. Tobias fluttered in on a nearby tree, as well.

"It's a beautiful day," Cassie said, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah."

((Sarah, I don't think you should worry too much right now,)) Tobias suggested. ((What are the chances of you having to go through with any decision now?))

"Knowing me? Pretty damn good," I replied…