omehow I made it home. I don't know how. I have no memories of anything after that last sight

of the Hork-Bajir.

I wish I had no memories of anything that happened that night. If only I could forget it all...

I called around to the others. Everyone was shaky, but they were all alive. Rachel kept trying to

apologize for leaving me. Marco just kept asking me if I was sure this wasn't a dream.

I guess I should have had the worst nightmares of my life that night, but I didn't. The world of

nightmares was a joke compared to my new reality.

But by the next morning, a Saturday, I half believed it all had been a nightmare. The only thing

that seemed real... really real... was the way the Andalite had of smiling with just his eyes.

I woke when my mom started pounding on my door.

"Jake, are you awake in there?"

I was now. "Um, yeah," I groaned. "I'm up."

"Your friend Tobias is here,"

"Tobias?" What was Tobias doing here?

"It's me." Tobias's voice. "Can I come in?"

"Um, sure." I sat up in my bed and blinked several times, trying to get my eyes unglued. The door

opened. I heard Tobias say thank you to my mom.

He was glowing. I swear, he was glowing. Not like he was radioactive or anything, I don't mean

that. It's just that his eyes were shining bright, and his face was one big grin, and he seemed to be

tingling with energy, bouncing like he couldn't standstill.

"I did it," Tobias said.

I tried to get my hair to go in one direction by raking my fingers through it. "What are you talking

about?"

I was yawning when he answered.

"I became Dude."

I stopped yawning. My mouth actually snapped shut. Dude is Tobias's cat. "Huh?"

Tobias glanced around like there might be spies in the room. "I became Dude. Just like the

Andalite said."

I just stared.

"It was so amazing. It didn't hurt or anything. I was petting him, and thinking about the whole

thing last night, right? So I thought, why not give it a try?" He was pacing back and forth, snapping his

fingers, bursting with enthusiasm. Very unlike Tobias.

"I didn't even know how to begin. So I just made sure the door to my room was locked.

Fortunately, my uncle was still asleep."

Tobias has the most screwed-up family I know. He never knew who his father was, and his mom

just decided to leave him a few years ago. Since then he'd been shuttled back and forth between his

uncle here, and his aunt, who lives on the other coast. His aunt and his uncle can't stand each other,

and it's like Tobias is some burden they each try to shove off on the other. I get the feeling neither of

them cares about Tobias.

"So there I was, just sitting on my bed, thinking about it. Concentrating. Thinking about becoming

Dude. I looked down at my hand." He grinned at me. "What do you think I saw, Jake?"

I shook my head slowly. "I don't know.""I had fur, Jake. And I was growing claws. You should have seen the real Dude. He went nuts. I

had to put him outside before I could morph all the way. He clawed me up pretty good." Tobias stuck

a sliced finger into his mouth.

I swallowed hard. Okay, this was definitely crazy now. "Um, Tobias, is it possible you maybe

just dreamed all this?"

"Not a dream," he said. Now he was serious Tobias again. The grin was gone. "It's all true, Jake.

All of it."

His eyes met mine. I knew what he was saying. He had tried to pretend it was all a nightmare,

too. But it was real. I looked away. I didn't want to start believing it had all been real. I wanted it all

safely stored away in my head, just another bad dream. Bad dreams should stay in your head, not

come jumping out into real life.

"I just kept concentrating on changing," Tobias said, "and in a few minutes, I was... not myself

anymore."

His eyes bored in on me. "You have no idea what it's like, Jake. Being a cat is so... it's... I

can't even describe it. You're so strong, for one thing. Just all this coiled power, and the way you can

move! You know what I did? I jumped onto my dresser. Three feet straight up in the air, and I landed

like a feather. Three feet! You know how high that is when you're a cat? It's like a person jumping

maybe thirty feet straight up."

He stopped suddenly and looked at me. "You don't believe me, do you?" he said.

"Look, Tobias, it's just that sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between something real and

something you're just imagining or dreaming."

"You think I'm crazy."

I considered for a minute. "I don't know, Tobias, let's review the facts. You say you turned into

your own pet cat. Turned into an actual cat. Yes, I have to say that sounds crazy to me."

Tobias nodded thoughtfully. He gave a little smile. "I understand, Jake. You still don't want it to

be true."

"What? You mean do I want to believe that you can change yourself into a cat? And all the rest of

it? Do I want to believe that Earth is being invaded by slimy slugs who live in people's brains and

turn them into slaves? Do I want to believe that... that... Duh! No! I don't want to believe any of

it."

"And how about the Andalite?" he asked in a quiet voice.

I hesitated. I don't know why, but I didn't want to just pretend the Andalite away.

Tobias put his hand on my arm. "Stand right there."

"What? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to help you decide whether it's real or not."

"Tobias..."

"Just wait And don't scream or anything."

So I waited.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Tobias just stood there. I glanced at his face. His eyes...

his eyes were different. The pupils weren't completely round anymore. I swear there was a reflective

greenish light in them. And his mouth was protruding a little, puffing out.

He was shrinking. Growing smaller right before my eyes.

The neck of his shirt was loose. His pants started scrunching up at the ankles. He was shriveling.

And at the same time fur - yes, fur! - began to grow on his hands and neck and face. It was gray,

striped with black, just like Dude's.I had this absurd desire to start giggling. Tobias was becoming a tabby cat! But I knew if I

started giggling I'd just keep on and on and never, ever be able to stop.

Tobias was more cat than human now. The pointed ears rose atop his head. The whiskers stuck

straight out from beneath his delicate pink nose. He had dropped to all fours, clothing now halfdraped over him, like so many rags. His tail twitched. Yes - his tail.

I wondered if I would just drop dead from the lump that had filled my throat, or from the jackhammer pounding of my heart. Then I wondered if I was still asleep.

But if it was a dream, it was a really convincing one.

I was standing there in my bedroom, staring down at a gray-black cat that less than two minutes

earlier had been my friend, Tobias.