Animorphs #04 - The Message by K.A. Applegate

Author:K.A. Applegate [Applegate, K.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780545387965
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Published: 2011-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

The next day I went to see Marco at his home.

He and his dad live in a garden apartment complex. One of the older ones, on the far side of the big neighborhood where Jake and Rachel both live. I’d only been over there a couple of times. I think Marco is kind of embarrassed because he doesn’t have much money.

He used to live in a house just down the street from Jake. But that was when his mother was still alive, and before his father had a breakdown and quit his job.

I knocked on the door. From inside I heard Marco’s voice. “Dad, there’s someone at the door. Put on your bathrobe, okay?”

There was a delay, and then the door opened. Marco looked annoyed.

“Cassie. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“To me? What about?”

“About yesterday,” I said.

He hesitated. “Look, I’m spending the day with my dad, okay? We’re thinking maybe we’ll … you know, do something together.”

“That’s good,” I said. Over Marco’s shoulder I could see his father. He was wearing a bathrobe and sitting on the couch. He was staring at the TV. That was normal for any dad, I guess, on a weekend morning. But I had the feeling that Marco’s dad was always sitting right there in front of the TV.

“Look, Marco, I just want to talk for a minute. Can I come in?”

“No, no,” he said hastily. He stepped outside onto the concrete breezeway. Down below us was a swimming pool. It was drained and closed. Leaves covered the bottom.

“Marco, I wanted to talk to you about yesterday.”

“What about it?”

“You could have been killed. It would have been my fault. This whole mission was my idea. Jake asked me if we should do it and I said yes.”

Marco rolled his eyes. “That’s it? Look, it wasn’t your fault. It’s this whole thing we’re doing, this whole Animorph thing. I mean, it’s been dangerous right from the start. It’s insanely dangerous. What else is new?”

I shrugged. “What’s new, I guess, is that the other times it was always someone else’s idea.”

“Oh, I get it. You don’t like responsibility?”

I winced. Was that it? Was I afraid of taking responsibility? “I don’t want to get my friends killed.”

“And let me assure you your friends don’t want to get killed, either,” Marco said with a laugh. “I am completely opposed to getting killed.” He grew serious, even sad. “But you know what? Sometimes bad things happen. That’s the way it is.”

I leaned against the rail, looking down at the dismal empty pool. “I see things die all the time,” I said. “Animals, I mean. Sometimes you can’t save them. Sometimes we even have to put them down — end their suffering. But my dad makes those decisions. Not me. He’s the vet. I’m just his assistant.”

“Look, here I am, all alive,” Marco said, tapping his chest. “Get over it. I didn’t have to go. It was my choice.”

“Were you scared?”

For a while he didn’t answer. He just came over and leaned on the railing beside me.

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