The Invasion Read Online Free PDF Page A

Hork-Bajir grabbed the Andalite and held him down. Their wrist blades were at his throat, but they knew better than to kill him.
    That was to be Visser Three’s personal privilege.
    Then we saw why a Yeerk as powerful as Visser Three would inhabit the only captured Andalite body. As we watched, Visser Three began to
morph.
    His Andalite head grew large, larger. Much larger. The four horselike legs merged into two and then expanded, each leg becoming as big around as a redwood tree. The delicate Andalite arms sprouted and became tentacles.
    “This isn’t real,” Cassie whispered. “This isn’t real.”
    In the hideously bloated head, a mouth appeared. It was filled with teeth as long as your arm. The mouth grew wider and wider, becoming a monstrous, terrifying grin.
    There was nothing left of the Andalite body. A monster had taken its place.
    “R-r-r-r-a-a-a-w-w-w-w-g-g-g!” The roar of the beast Visser Three had become made the ground shake.
    I covered my ears with my hands.
    “R-r-r-r-r-r-a-a-a-a-g-g-g!”
    My teeth rattled from the sound. I heard someone whimpering. It was me.
    Visser Three had become a monster that made the Hork-Bajir and the Taxxons look like harmless toys. He reached out with one thick tentacle and grabbed the Andalite by the neck.
    “No, no, no,” I heard Cassie whispering over and over again. “No, no, no, no.”
    “Don’t look,” Rachel said to her. She put her arm around Cassie’s shoulder and held her close. Then she reached for Tobias and took his hand. I guess you never really know someone till you see them scared. And even scared to death, with tears running down her face, Rachel had strength to spare.
    Visser Three lifted the Andalite straight up in the air, tearing him from the grasp of the Hork-Bajir. The Andalite prince struck again and again with his tail. But each strike was like a pinprick against such a creature.
    Visser Three held the Andalite high in the air.
    And then Visser Three opened his mouth wide.

CHAPTER 6
     
    I don’t know what came over me right then. I had been so afraid.
So
terrified. But it was like something just snapped in my head. I couldn’t just hide and watch. I couldn’t.
    “You filthy—”
    I jumped to my feet. I snatched up a piece of rusted iron pipe from the ground and started to climb over that wall.
    I guess I just went crazy or something. It had to be craziness, because there was no way that I, alone, armed with a piece of pipe, was going to accomplish anything.
    No!
    The Andalite’s silent cry made me hesitate. I felt Marco’s hands grabbing at my shirt and pulling me back. Tobias and Marco held me down. Rachel put her hand over my mouth. I was trying to scream, or curse, or something.
    “Shut up, you idiot!” Marco hissed. “You’re just going to get us all killed.”
    “Jake, don’t.” Cassie put her hand on my cheek. “He doesn’t want you to die for
him.
Don’t you realize? He’s dying for us.”
    I shoved Marco and Tobias away angrily. But I was in control of myself again.
    I peeked over the wall again. The Andalite prince was helpless in the grasp of Visser Three. I saw him held high in the air. I saw Visser Three open his monstrous, gaping jaws.
    I saw the Andalite fall into that open mouth.
    The mouth closed. The teeth ripped the Andalite apart. And the Andalite Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul died.
    At the very end, he cried out. His cry of despair was in our heads. His cry will always be in our heads.
    The Hork-Bajir-Controllers began making a huffing sound, like
whuh-whuh-whuh.
Maybe they were laughing or applauding. The Taxxon- Controllers rushed forward and crowded around Visser Three. They seemed to be stretching up toward him, andthen I saw why—a piece of the Andalite fell from the Visser’s jaws and the nearest Taxxon greedily gobbled it up.
    Tobias turned away and covered his face with his hands. Cassie had tears streaming from her eyes. So did I.
    I heard a sound that was strange because it was so