I said. I spilled air from my wings and dove toward the back of the truck just as the driver went into the building, pushing a dolly loaded with tomato crates. Jake and Marco fell in beside me and we swooped, swift and neat, into the dark of the truck. I opened my wings and tilted my tail down to kill my speed. Then I took a quick glance around and used my remaining momentum to zip over the top of a wall of cardboard boxes and land in a cramped area behind. I felt pretty pleased with myself. Marco and Jake landed beside me. Marco landed a little clumsily and sort of rolled and fluttered into the wall of the truck. Jake said. I said. I seethed a little at Jake calling me dumb. He wasn't always so careful. Of course, he is our unofficial leader, so I guess he feels responsible. Although as far as I'm concerned, I'm responsible for me. Jake said. "I'm telling I was drifting around in a lazy semicircle. Coming closer and closer to that evil steel pier where they dragged the hosts and thrust their heads under the water to allow the Yeerks to re-enter. Under the pier! If I was going to demorph, that was the place. Closer, closer I drifted. Closer, and I could hear the shouts. The cries. The screams. The utter despair. "No! No! Let me go, you have no right! Let me go, I have children who -" The voice was cut off. The woman's head had been shoved brutally down under the surface. And seconds later, she stood up, perfectly calm. A Controller once more. I could see the pier clearly, although from a very low angle. Bored Hork-Bajir-Controllers dragged unwilling humans and unwilling Hork-Bajir to the end of the pier, kicked their legs out from under them, and thrust their heads into the pool. It was just a day's work for the Hork-Bajir. The threats and pleading meant nothing. They'd heard it all before. Hundreds of times. Thousands and thousands of times. The idea of morphing to a shark and laying waste through the Yeerk pool was starting to seem better and better. How I hated the foul slugs that surged and frolicked around me. But that would be a suicide mission. Maybe there was still some way to stay alive. The pier was coming closer. It was very low, just inches above the water surface. What should I do? Well, Rachel, I thought, you sure don't want to end your life as a one-winged bat. I began to demorph. There, floating amidst the enemy, i began to emerge back into human form. I was under the pier! I reached, hoping I had something like a hand. Rough, stubby fingers scraped along the I stuck out my hand. "I'm ... I'm helping your lawyer with your court case." He was startled. Who wouldn't be? He swept his eyes around the room as though maybe, just maybe, there was something weird about meeting me in a bathroom. He didn't notice the two cockroaches huddled together under the sink. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Then he looked down. "You're not wearing shoes." "Yes, I apologize for my slightly ..." I was looking for a sophisticated word like "unconventional," but I couldn't think of it. ". . . my slightly weird appearance here."