The Return (Animorphs #48) by K. A. Applegate

Author:K. A. Applegate [Applegate, K. A.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2017-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

The voice.

<We could win, Rachel. Rats could rule the world.>

I was smarter than any of you.

<Sure, we’d still be rats. I mean, we wouldn’t be able to drive a Ferrari or eat at Le Cirque. But all humans would have to bow down and grovel to us. The human race would be at our disposal! Our beck and call!>

Le Cirque? I thought inanely. Ignoring the full import of David’s message. Human-David had been more of a Wendy’s kind of guy.

<The key to winning is no mercy, Rachel.>

David’s voice was — grand. Somehow compelling.

Like he was one of those inspirational speakers big corporations hire. The ones who come in and pump up a flagging sales department into a slogan-induced frenzy of sell-sell-sell energy.

Still, what he was saying did make some sense. Hadn’t I always been the one to preach “show no mercy”?

<We can’t go soft, Rachel. We can’t give in to emotional attachments. Or to morality. A leader leads because he or she is a law unto themselves. A leader really believes that law will be accepted without question by those whose destiny it is to follow.>

Yes, yes. A leader has to be totally focused, totally without mercy, totally sure of her decisions….

<And if you were to destroy Jake, well, then, the other Animorphs would follow you without question. Right?>

The voice. It was hypnotic.

It made sense.

It was seductive.

It was reasonable.

It spoke to me.

<Right, Rachel?> he pressed gently.

Jake doesn’t even know how to use his power.

<Right,> I heard myself agree.

Then a crazy laugh, high and wild, broke the spell.

And I realized it wasn’t David’s voice I’d been hearing.

Not David’s voice that had manipulated me. That had cast its magic over me.

It was another voice entirely.

I shot a look at the clock.

What!

I panicked.

What happened?

Where had the time gone?

What had David done to me!

And then there was a low humming sound. Very faint, but audible.

And again, the dark, cavernous space was lit with an eerie red glow. Only now, the light source was visible.

The light source was a large red eye.

It hovered over the room from just under the vaulted ceiling. Peered down like a gigantic red spotlight.

Cassie. Pounding on the wall of her cube. Shouting. I couldn’t hear her but I knew what she was saying.

“Demorph, Rachel. Demorph! Don’t get trapped. Don’t let them do this to you!”

I stared at David.

His nose and whiskers quivered.

He didn’t look like a world ruler.

He didn’t look like any kind of leader at all.

He looked like a scared little rat.

Some kid’s science-class pet.

An exterminator’s dream.

My brain kicked into overdrive.

<Wait!>

David cringed.

<No,> he protested softly.

I stood up on my hind legs.

<Reality check.>

<Everything I told you is true,> David said quickly. <I escaped from the island. I have a plan to rule the world. I … >

<Rats are not sentient creatures,> I interrupted. <They don’t take orders. They don’t organize. They can’t be rallied like troops. And they don’t attack people on command.>

David chittered and lay on his belly.

<You might be a rat with human intelligence but that doesn’t make you Dr.

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