The Invasion (35 page)

I nodded and wiped away my tears. “Yeah,” I said. “Until then, we fight.”

LEARN THE TRUTH.

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ANIMORPHS™ #02
THE
VISITOR

Part of me just wanted to run. Even a hologram of Visser Three makes your skin crawl. But now that he had figured out it wasn’t real, the cat part of me was just bored.

I realized why I could hear Visser Three—the hologram projector must not be able to transmit thought-speech. It translated it into regular speech.

“Is there progress on locating the Andalite bandits?”

“No, Visser. Nothing yet.”

I knew who he meant by “Andalite bandits.” That was us, the Animorphs.

“I want them found. I want them found NOW!”

Chapman jumped back in surprise at the Visser’s command. I could smell fear on him.

In a calmer tone, Visser Three continued. “This
cannot go on, Iniss Two-Two-Six, it cannot go on. The Council of Thirteen will hear of it. They will wonder why I reported to them that all Andalite ships near this planet had been destroyed and all the Andalites killed. They will be suspicious. They will be angry. And when the Council of Thirteen is angry with me, I am angry with you.”

Chapman was literally quivering. I smelled human sweat. And I smelled something else. Something not totally human. It was very faint … was that the Yeerk itself I was smelling? Was I smelling the Yeerk slug in Chapman’s head?

It seemed impossible. But there was some strange smell. Something … something … I concentrated all my cat mind on analyzing the smell.

“What is
that?”

Chapman swiveled in his chair.

I looked up and froze. Chapman was staring right at me. And worse, much worse, Visser Three’s stalk eyes were focused on me, too.

“It’s called a cat,” Chapman said nervously. “An Earth species used as a pet. The humans keep them close and find comfort in them.”

“Why is it in here?”

“It belongs to the girl. My … the host’s daughter.”

“I see,” Visser Three said. “Well, kill it. Kill it immediately.”

K. A. Applegate’s ANIMORPHS
series has sold millions of copies worldwide, and alerted the world to the presence of the Yeerks. She is also the author of the bestselling Remnants and Everworld series,
Home of the Brave,
and the Roscoe Riley Rules series.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

Copyright © 1996 by Katherine Applegate
Cover art by Craig White
Cover design by Steve Scott

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
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ANIMORPHS
, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

This edition first printing, May 2011

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e-ISBN 978-0-545-38866-5