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Summary: A Daria/Animorphs crossover. Jane just walking home from the mall when a spaceship crashed right in front of her. Now she and her "friends" have the power to turn into animals— which they'll need to stop the alien invasion threatening the planet!
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Suspicions
Jodie was apparently in the same room as her parents when Daria called, so all she could really do was agree to meet with us later. She offered to call Upchuck for us; the plan was to meet at my house, since it was the one most likely to be empty on a Saturday.
Daria and I dragged Quinn there around lunch time. Jodie showed up a little while later, brandishing a newspaper. "Did you guys read today's Lawndale Sun-Herald?" she asked immediately.
"Um—no?"
"Well, take a look at this—here, the little article in the corner."
Daria took the paper. "'Fireworks, not UFO, say police,'" she read.
"Yeah. Apparently a lot of people around the mall reported seeing some weird lights last night. But according to this, police showed up to investigate and only found some kids playing with fireworks. And there's a reward for anyone who turns the kids in," she added darkly.
Daria and I took a minute to let that sink in. Quinn looked confused. "But…wait. So the police showed up after we left?"
"No—the police are lying," Daria said, folding the paper up and throwing it on my kitchen table. "Don't you get it? This is the aliens—the Yeerks or Controllers or whatever they're called—looking for us."
"Wait—the police are aliens too?!"
"Or the newspaper," Jodie said. "Or both. I mean—the Andalite made it sound like they could be anyone."
"Oh man," I mumbled. "That's scary to think about."
"Yeah." Jodie gave me an odd look. "So, you really did it? Turned into an animal?"
"My pet cat."
"It was horrible!" Quinn shuddered.
"Actually, it was kind of cool. But still sort of freaky."
"Crazy."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need Upchuck," Daria said, glancing at her watch. "Where is he?"
Suddenly I heard a tapping sound. It took us all a moment to locate its source—a large, white-and-gray bird was hovering outside my kitchen window, flapping its wings to stay aloft as it tapped on the glass with its beak. We all glanced at each other before I approached.
"Upchuck?" Jodie's jaw nearly fell to the floor.
<…Oh. That was easier than I thought.>
"Yeah. We can hear what you're thinking in morph. It's this whole big thing." I opened the window. "Get in here, birdbrain."
He swept into the room and landed on the back of Quinn's chair. She let out a cry and darted into another one.
"Been peeking into people's houses, I gather?"
"We can still hear you."
"Okay, a bird is talking to me. Psychically. This is too weird," Jodie said. "Change back now, okay?"
Upchuck hid his head under his wing.
"What do you mean? Oh, no—don't tell me you've been like that for more than two hours?!"
he added hastily.
"More likely we'd turn to stone."
I sighed. "Come here…"
Luckily Trent had actually been keeping up with his laundry lately—I found a pair of clothes for Upchuck to wear in my dryer and left him alone in my basement to change. He came out a minute later wearing an oversized T-shirt and pants that he had to hold to keep from falling.
"You know, you could have just driven here," Jodie noted as he sat down. "This morphing thing isn't a toy. We'd be in big trouble if somebody caught you doing that."
Upchuck shrugged. "Car's in the shop. Besides, you can't expect a man with superpowers to not take advantage of them! Captain Muscle never walked to work, did he?"
He grinned and kicked his bare feet up on the kitchen table. Then he caught sight of my face and quickly removed them.
"What kind of bird was that, anyway?" Daria wondered.
He shrugged. "An osprey, I think. I live right on the edge of the woods, so I just snuck in there this morning and decided to try this morphing thing on the first sleeping bird I could find." He suddenly frowned, staring down at his forearm. "It woke up and gave me quite a few scratches, though."
"I don't see any scratches," Jodie noted.
"Yeah. I…guess the morphing fixed that."
I frowned. "Huh. You know…I think the same thing happened to me."
"It did?"
"Yeah. Haven't any of you noticed a change from my usual style?"
I swept my hair behind one ear. Daria blinked. "You're not wearing your earrings?"
"Yeah. When I was getting dressed—after I first morphed Taylor—I tried to put on my earrings, but the holes were just gone. Sound familiar?"
Daria rolled her eyes. She had had a less supernatural version of that problem once. She looked thoughtful. "Well, the Andalite said the technology was based on DNA."
Quinn frowned. "You mean that stuff in your blood that they're always talking about on the police shows?"
"Exactly." Another grin grew on Upchuck's face. "We absorb the DNA from animals, and then use our own DNA to turn back. But something like a scratch or a piercing isn't encoded in your DNA. Which means that morphing is effectively a healing power too! That ought to be useful in a fight."
"We didn't say anything about fighting!" Quinn said quickly.
"And that's what we're here to talk about," Jodie said. She pushed the newspaper to Upchuck. "Did you read this by any chance?"
His smile faltered. "Actually, yes. And do your ladies know what it means?"
"That these Yeerks are onto us, yeah." She crossed her arms and peered around at the rest of us. "So what are we gonna do about it?"
"I say we don't do anything," Quinn said immediately. We all turned to look at her. "What?! You saw what happened to that Elf-Finger guy! We can't let the Yeerks find us! We have to, like, tell the police or the army or something!"
"But it looks like the police are already Controllers," Daria said. "Who's to say the army isn't?"
"Probably not all of them." I suddenly felt a chill. "I mean, the Yeerks can't already be in everyone important, can they?"
"Probably not," Upchuck said slowly. "But how do we tell who is a Controller and who isn't?"
"Especially when telling the wrong person could get slugs put in our brains too?"
Nobody had a good answer for that. There was a long pause.
"The Andalite said we needed to fight the Yeerks," Jodie said quietly.
"But that's crazy!"
"As much as it goes against everything I stand for, I have to agree with Quinn here," Daria said. "If we don't even know who's a Controller and who isn't, where do we even start?"
"And what do we do if we run into that Visser Three guy and he goes all Godzilla again?" I wondered.
"I know, but—ugh, I don't know." Jodie put her face in her hand; I suddenly noticed that she looked exhausted. "I just keep thinking back to last night. When the Andalite…you know."
"It was horrible," Quinn said quietly, slumping in her seat.
I felt cold again. The image of the alien falling into Visser Three's mouth flashed before my eyes. "Yeah."
"And the last thing he did—was try to give us something to help us," Jodie continued. "And, like—remember when I went on his ship, to get the…morphing box or whatever?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, he had a—thing in there. I guess you call it a hologram or something? A little one, of a bunch of different Andalites. And I…I don't know, I guess it was his family or something. Like the picture of your kids that you keep on your desk at work. And…it's just really terrible to think about. He died trying to save our planet, and those other Andalites are a million miles away right now. They probably don't even know that he's dead."
The room was silent for a moment before Quinn spoke. "Well, I don't know about you, but I don't want to end up dead, too."
We all looked away from each other. I suddenly started imagining my parents, currently off taking photographs in some foreign country—how would they react if they suddenly got a call from Trent telling them that I had been ripped to shreds in a fight with an alien? Hell, how would Trent react, or my other brother and sisters? Would they even know if I did die, or would I just wind up joining the Andalite in Visser Three's large intestine?
Jodie took a deep breath. "So—where do we all stand?"
"I say this whole thing is crazy," Quinn said. "If we try to fight these Yeerk things, all we're going to do is get ourselves killed."
"I agree with Quinn…sort of," Daria said reluctantly. "We can't just do nothing, but this whole idea that we'll turn into lions and tigers and bears and go beat up the Wicked Witch? Not happening. I think we need to figure out a way that we can find somebody and pass the information along to them."
"I would agree, except I don't know how we could," Jodie admitted. "I mean, the five of us are the only people that we know can't be Controllers."
"Do we know that?" Quinn asked. She suddenly looked around at the rest of us like we were ninjas poised for the attack.
I rolled my eyes. "If one of us was a Yeerk, they would have attacked the Andalite with one of those laser guns and turned the rest of us in by now. …At least, I think they would have." Okay, now I was starting to feel paranoid.
"I think it's safe to say that we're all clean," Jodie said. "But I don't know how we can say for sure than anyone else is. I mean…the Yeerks could even have one of our parents or something. It would be impossible to know."
"But wouldn't they be acting weird?" I wondered.
"There's always a tell in the movies," Upchuck said hopefully.
"Well, what do you think, then?" Jodie asked.
"Me?" Upchuck raised an eyebrow as though surprised to see us all staring at him. He quickly recovered and cleared his throat. "I, uh…don't really know," he admitted. His eyes darted away. "I mean—well, don't get me wrong, flying here was quite the thrill…definitely not complaining about the morphing thing. But, well…"
"You're as afraid of imminent death as the rest of us?" Daria cut in.
"…Something like that, yeah." He looked almost embarrassed to admit it. "But Jodie's right—it might not be possible to find anybody to help us. And if there isn't…"
"We may not have any choice but to fight ourselves."
"Yeah."
Jodie turned to me. "What about you, Jane?"
I tensed up, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. The unpleasant image of my family gathered around a coffin flashed through my mind again.
"…I dunno," I admitted. "I can barely even believe that this is real…I guess it's like you guys said: we try to find somebody else and then take it from there."
"But who?" Daria wondered. "Who do we know who we're absolutely sure would—be a good person to do our report on?" she said, her voice changing abruptly mid-sentence.
I raised my eyebrow. "Huh?"
"Hey."
I jumped. Trent was standing in the doorway behind me, holding a Pizza Prince box in his hands. His eyes widened slightly.
"Whoa, Janie. You've really been jumpy the last couple of days. Maybe we should switch to decaf." He nodded to the other inhabitants of the table. "Hey, Daria, Daria's Sister…other people."
"Oh, uh—Jodie, Upchuck, this is my brother Trent."
"Pleased to meet you."
"A pleasure, my good man."
Trent simply nodded again. He motioned to the pizza box in his hands. "I picked up lunch on the way home…but I wasn't really expecting this much company."
"That's okay," Quinn said quickly, jumping to her feet. "I was just leaving anyway."
"What?" I said. "But we didn't even—"
"Actually, I sort of have to go too," Jodie said, picking up her newspaper and rising. "This is a big…project," she said, responding to our stunned stares. "I don't think we can get this all done at once—we should take a day or two to brainstorm ideas before we decide."
"Well, I guess we weren't really making any progress anyway," Daria muttered, shoulders slumping.
"Let me walk you two lovely ladies to the door," Upchuck offered, following them out of the kitchen.
"Hey, you." Upchuck froze as Trent gave him a quick look up and down. "…Nice shirt."
Upchuck gave an oily smile. "You too, my stylish associate." Then he darted out of the room after Quinn and Jodie, the front door closing behind them.
Daria and I shared a nervous look as Trent casually placed the pizza on the kitchen table and sat backwards in Upchuck's empty seat. "So, what are you guys doing?"
"School project," I said, trying not to seem shaky as I took a piece of pizza. "We have to do a group report about…a U.S. president," I invented.
"Ah." He chewed his pizza thoughtfully before turning to Daria. "But…isn't your sister in a different grade than you?"
"We're actually very close in age," Daria said. She managed to keep her voice sounding as even and ambiguously sarcastic as it normally was. "So, what have you been up to? Aren't you accustomed to getting up when you hear owls crowing outside your window?"
Trent chuckled. "Nah. I had work stuff to do today."
"Work? You mean the band?"
"Nah." He finished off his first piece of pizza, popping the last bit of crust into his mouth before continuing. "I quit the band."
"What?!" My voice squeaked; I had to cough a few times to keep from choking on my pizza. "You quit Mystik Spiral?! When did that happen?"
"A couple of days ago. Didn't I tell you?"
"No!"
"Oh. Huh." He took a second slice of pizza and ate about half as it as I just stared at him. Daria was staring too, with a strange look on his face. Finally Trent rolled his eyes. "Look, I have more important things to do than strum the strings of a guitar all day, you know? And it's not exactly like the band was going anywhere."
"…Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"
"Really," Daria said, so softly I barely even heard her.
"There are more important things in life than music, Janie. Besides, I needed a steady job." A crooked smile spread across his face. "And I got a great one. Ever hear of The Sharing?"
"The Sharing? Isn't that some sort of…coed Girl Scouts or something?"
"Nah, it's a lot cooler than that. They let in everyone—adults, kids, whoever. I got a job helping them organize events and stuff. There's actually a big meeting tonight down by the lake. You guys should come."
"Hmm. 'The Sharing.' Sounds like something Mr. O'Neill would come up with," Daria drawled.
Trent chuckled, which after a moment turned into a hacking cough. "Well, it's gonna be really cool," he said, grinning at her. "Probably a lot more fun than just hanging around at the home or the mall or something."
"Hmm," I said noncommittally.
Trent went back to his pizza before glancing up at me. "Speaking of the mall, did you hear about the UFOs last night?"
"UFOs?" I mentally kicked myself; my tone had remained fairly even, but my response sounded too quick even to my ears. "What UFOs?"
"Apparently some kids were setting off fireworks in that old construction site. Some people called the police to say that there were flying saucers or something." He grinned again. "Crazy, right?"
"Sure is."
"Yeah. I mean, intelligent life never came to Lawndale before. What's its motivation to start now?"
"Heh, yeah." Trent leaned forward. "But it's kind of cool, isn't it? Freaking everybody out like that. Do you guys know who was doing it?"
"Well, it had to be someone dumb enough to think that setting off fires and explosions constitutes a good time, so that narrows it down to most of the people I know."
"Hmm." Trent finished his pizza and rose to his feet. "Well, anyway. I'm gonna catch a few Z's before The Sharing meeting tonight. See ya later."
He left. It wasn't until we heard his door close upstairs that I turned back to Daria, who looked pale.
"Wow. Can you believe he quit the band?" I shook my head. "And just—out of nowhere, too. He never even talked to me about it."
"Uh-huh."
"And for an actual job? At some stupid club, of all places?" I shook my head slightly and picked up my pizza. "Man, he's acting weird lately."
"…Jane? You don't get it, do you?"
"What?"
"Acting weird? Suddenly changing his whole lifestyle? Asking us if we know anything about the 'fireworks' last night?"
I felt another chill. "What are you saying, Daria?" Our eyes locked. "Jane…I'm saying that Trent is probably a Controller."

Description

Summary: A Daria/Animorphs crossover. Jane just walking home from the mall when a spaceship crashed right in front of her. Now she and her "friends" have the power to turn into animals— which they'll need to stop the alien invasion threatening the planet!
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Suspicions
Jodie was apparently in the same room as her parents when Daria called, so all she could really do was agree to meet with us later. She offered to call Upchuck for us; the plan was to meet at my house, since it was the one most likely to be empty on a Saturday.
Daria and I dragged Quinn there around lunch time. Jodie showed up a little while later, brandishing a newspaper. "Did you guys read today's Lawndale Sun-Herald?" she asked immediately.
"Um—no?"
"Well, take a look at this—here, the little article in the corner."
Daria took the paper. "'Fireworks, not UFO, say police,'" she read.
"Yeah. Apparently a lot of people around the mall reported seeing some weird lights last night. But according to this, police showed up to investigate and only found some kids playing with fireworks. And there's a reward for anyone who turns the kids in," she added darkly.
Daria and I took a minute to let that sink in. Quinn looked confused. "But…wait. So the police showed up after we left?"
"No—the police are lying," Daria said, folding the paper up and throwing it on my kitchen table. "Don't you get it? This is the aliens—the Yeerks or Controllers or whatever they're called—looking for us."
"Wait—the police are aliens too?!"
"Or the newspaper," Jodie said. "Or both. I mean—the Andalite made it sound like they could be anyone."
"Oh man," I mumbled. "That's scary to think about."
"Yeah." Jodie gave me an odd look. "So, you really did it? Turned into an animal?"
"My pet cat."
"It was horrible!" Quinn shuddered.
"Actually, it was kind of cool. But still sort of freaky."
"Crazy."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need Upchuck," Daria said, glancing at her watch. "Where is he?"
Suddenly I heard a tapping sound. It took us all a moment to locate its source—a large, white-and-gray bird was hovering outside my kitchen window, flapping its wings to stay aloft as it tapped on the glass with its beak. We all glanced at each other before I approached.
"Upchuck?" Jodie's jaw nearly fell to the floor.
<…Oh. That was easier than I thought.>
"Yeah. We can hear what you're thinking in morph. It's this whole big thing." I opened the window. "Get in here, birdbrain."
He swept into the room and landed on the back of Quinn's chair. She let out a cry and darted into another one.
"Been peeking into people's houses, I gather?"
"We can still hear you."
"Okay, a bird is talking to me. Psychically. This is too weird," Jodie said. "Change back now, okay?"
Upchuck hid his head under his wing.
"What do you mean? Oh, no—don't tell me you've been like that for more than two hours?!"
he added hastily.
"More likely we'd turn to stone."
I sighed. "Come here…"
Luckily Trent had actually been keeping up with his laundry lately—I found a pair of clothes for Upchuck to wear in my dryer and left him alone in my basement to change. He came out a minute later wearing an oversized T-shirt and pants that he had to hold to keep from falling.
"You know, you could have just driven here," Jodie noted as he sat down. "This morphing thing isn't a toy. We'd be in big trouble if somebody caught you doing that."
Upchuck shrugged. "Car's in the shop. Besides, you can't expect a man with superpowers to not take advantage of them! Captain Muscle never walked to work, did he?"
He grinned and kicked his bare feet up on the kitchen table. Then he caught sight of my face and quickly removed them.
"What kind of bird was that, anyway?" Daria wondered.
He shrugged. "An osprey, I think. I live right on the edge of the woods, so I just snuck in there this morning and decided to try this morphing thing on the first sleeping bird I could find." He suddenly frowned, staring down at his forearm. "It woke up and gave me quite a few scratches, though."
"I don't see any scratches," Jodie noted.
"Yeah. I…guess the morphing fixed that."
I frowned. "Huh. You know…I think the same thing happened to me."
"It did?"
"Yeah. Haven't any of you noticed a change from my usual style?"
I swept my hair behind one ear. Daria blinked. "You're not wearing your earrings?"
"Yeah. When I was getting dressed—after I first morphed Taylor—I tried to put on my earrings, but the holes were just gone. Sound familiar?"
Daria rolled her eyes. She had had a less supernatural version of that problem once. She looked thoughtful. "Well, the Andalite said the technology was based on DNA."
Quinn frowned. "You mean that stuff in your blood that they're always talking about on the police shows?"
"Exactly." Another grin grew on Upchuck's face. "We absorb the DNA from animals, and then use our own DNA to turn back. But something like a scratch or a piercing isn't encoded in your DNA. Which means that morphing is effectively a healing power too! That ought to be useful in a fight."
"We didn't say anything about fighting!" Quinn said quickly.
"And that's what we're here to talk about," Jodie said. She pushed the newspaper to Upchuck. "Did you read this by any chance?"
His smile faltered. "Actually, yes. And do your ladies know what it means?"
"That these Yeerks are onto us, yeah." She crossed her arms and peered around at the rest of us. "So what are we gonna do about it?"
"I say we don't do anything," Quinn said immediately. We all turned to look at her. "What?! You saw what happened to that Elf-Finger guy! We can't let the Yeerks find us! We have to, like, tell the police or the army or something!"
"But it looks like the police are already Controllers," Daria said. "Who's to say the army isn't?"
"Probably not all of them." I suddenly felt a chill. "I mean, the Yeerks can't already be in everyone important, can they?"
"Probably not," Upchuck said slowly. "But how do we tell who is a Controller and who isn't?"
"Especially when telling the wrong person could get slugs put in our brains too?"
Nobody had a good answer for that. There was a long pause.
"The Andalite said we needed to fight the Yeerks," Jodie said quietly.
"But that's crazy!"
"As much as it goes against everything I stand for, I have to agree with Quinn here," Daria said. "If we don't even know who's a Controller and who isn't, where do we even start?"
"And what do we do if we run into that Visser Three guy and he goes all Godzilla again?" I wondered.
"I know, but—ugh, I don't know." Jodie put her face in her hand; I suddenly noticed that she looked exhausted. "I just keep thinking back to last night. When the Andalite…you know."
"It was horrible," Quinn said quietly, slumping in her seat.
I felt cold again. The image of the alien falling into Visser Three's mouth flashed before my eyes. "Yeah."
"And the last thing he did—was try to give us something to help us," Jodie continued. "And, like—remember when I went on his ship, to get the…morphing box or whatever?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, he had a—thing in there. I guess you call it a hologram or something? A little one, of a bunch of different Andalites. And I…I don't know, I guess it was his family or something. Like the picture of your kids that you keep on your desk at work. And…it's just really terrible to think about. He died trying to save our planet, and those other Andalites are a million miles away right now. They probably don't even know that he's dead."
The room was silent for a moment before Quinn spoke. "Well, I don't know about you, but I don't want to end up dead, too."
We all looked away from each other. I suddenly started imagining my parents, currently off taking photographs in some foreign country—how would they react if they suddenly got a call from Trent telling them that I had been ripped to shreds in a fight with an alien? Hell, how would Trent react, or my other brother and sisters? Would they even know if I did die, or would I just wind up joining the Andalite in Visser Three's large intestine?
Jodie took a deep breath. "So—where do we all stand?"
"I say this whole thing is crazy," Quinn said. "If we try to fight these Yeerk things, all we're going to do is get ourselves killed."
"I agree with Quinn…sort of," Daria said reluctantly. "We can't just do nothing, but this whole idea that we'll turn into lions and tigers and bears and go beat up the Wicked Witch? Not happening. I think we need to figure out a way that we can find somebody and pass the information along to them."
"I would agree, except I don't know how we could," Jodie admitted. "I mean, the five of us are the only people that we know can't be Controllers."
"Do we know that?" Quinn asked. She suddenly looked around at the rest of us like we were ninjas poised for the attack.
I rolled my eyes. "If one of us was a Yeerk, they would have attacked the Andalite with one of those laser guns and turned the rest of us in by now. …At least, I think they would have." Okay, now I was starting to feel paranoid.
"I think it's safe to say that we're all clean," Jodie said. "But I don't know how we can say for sure than anyone else is. I mean…the Yeerks could even have one of our parents or something. It would be impossible to know."
"But wouldn't they be acting weird?" I wondered.
"There's always a tell in the movies," Upchuck said hopefully.
"Well, what do you think, then?" Jodie asked.
"Me?" Upchuck raised an eyebrow as though surprised to see us all staring at him. He quickly recovered and cleared his throat. "I, uh…don't really know," he admitted. His eyes darted away. "I mean—well, don't get me wrong, flying here was quite the thrill…definitely not complaining about the morphing thing. But, well…"
"You're as afraid of imminent death as the rest of us?" Daria cut in.
"…Something like that, yeah." He looked almost embarrassed to admit it. "But Jodie's right—it might not be possible to find anybody to help us. And if there isn't…"
"We may not have any choice but to fight ourselves."
"Yeah."
Jodie turned to me. "What about you, Jane?"
I tensed up, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. The unpleasant image of my family gathered around a coffin flashed through my mind again.
"…I dunno," I admitted. "I can barely even believe that this is real…I guess it's like you guys said: we try to find somebody else and then take it from there."
"But who?" Daria wondered. "Who do we know who we're absolutely sure would—be a good person to do our report on?" she said, her voice changing abruptly mid-sentence.
I raised my eyebrow. "Huh?"
"Hey."
I jumped. Trent was standing in the doorway behind me, holding a Pizza Prince box in his hands. His eyes widened slightly.
"Whoa, Janie. You've really been jumpy the last couple of days. Maybe we should switch to decaf." He nodded to the other inhabitants of the table. "Hey, Daria, Daria's Sister…other people."
"Oh, uh—Jodie, Upchuck, this is my brother Trent."
"Pleased to meet you."
"A pleasure, my good man."
Trent simply nodded again. He motioned to the pizza box in his hands. "I picked up lunch on the way home…but I wasn't really expecting this much company."
"That's okay," Quinn said quickly, jumping to her feet. "I was just leaving anyway."
"What?" I said. "But we didn't even—"
"Actually, I sort of have to go too," Jodie said, picking up her newspaper and rising. "This is a big…project," she said, responding to our stunned stares. "I don't think we can get this all done at once—we should take a day or two to brainstorm ideas before we decide."
"Well, I guess we weren't really making any progress anyway," Daria muttered, shoulders slumping.
"Let me walk you two lovely ladies to the door," Upchuck offered, following them out of the kitchen.
"Hey, you." Upchuck froze as Trent gave him a quick look up and down. "…Nice shirt."
Upchuck gave an oily smile. "You too, my stylish associate." Then he darted out of the room after Quinn and Jodie, the front door closing behind them.
Daria and I shared a nervous look as Trent casually placed the pizza on the kitchen table and sat backwards in Upchuck's empty seat. "So, what are you guys doing?"
"School project," I said, trying not to seem shaky as I took a piece of pizza. "We have to do a group report about…a U.S. president," I invented.
"Ah." He chewed his pizza thoughtfully before turning to Daria. "But…isn't your sister in a different grade than you?"
"We're actually very close in age," Daria said. She managed to keep her voice sounding as even and ambiguously sarcastic as it normally was. "So, what have you been up to? Aren't you accustomed to getting up when you hear owls crowing outside your window?"
Trent chuckled. "Nah. I had work stuff to do today."
"Work? You mean the band?"
"Nah." He finished off his first piece of pizza, popping the last bit of crust into his mouth before continuing. "I quit the band."
"What?!" My voice squeaked; I had to cough a few times to keep from choking on my pizza. "You quit Mystik Spiral?! When did that happen?"
"A couple of days ago. Didn't I tell you?"
"No!"
"Oh. Huh." He took a second slice of pizza and ate about half as it as I just stared at him. Daria was staring too, with a strange look on his face. Finally Trent rolled his eyes. "Look, I have more important things to do than strum the strings of a guitar all day, you know? And it's not exactly like the band was going anywhere."
"…Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"
"Really," Daria said, so softly I barely even heard her.
"There are more important things in life than music, Janie. Besides, I needed a steady job." A crooked smile spread across his face. "And I got a great one. Ever hear of The Sharing?"
"The Sharing? Isn't that some sort of…coed Girl Scouts or something?"
"Nah, it's a lot cooler than that. They let in everyone—adults, kids, whoever. I got a job helping them organize events and stuff. There's actually a big meeting tonight down by the lake. You guys should come."
"Hmm. 'The Sharing.' Sounds like something Mr. O'Neill would come up with," Daria drawled.
Trent chuckled, which after a moment turned into a hacking cough. "Well, it's gonna be really cool," he said, grinning at her. "Probably a lot more fun than just hanging around at the home or the mall or something."
"Hmm," I said noncommittally.
Trent went back to his pizza before glancing up at me. "Speaking of the mall, did you hear about the UFOs last night?"
"UFOs?" I mentally kicked myself; my tone had remained fairly even, but my response sounded too quick even to my ears. "What UFOs?"
"Apparently some kids were setting off fireworks in that old construction site. Some people called the police to say that there were flying saucers or something." He grinned again. "Crazy, right?"
"Sure is."
"Yeah. I mean, intelligent life never came to Lawndale before. What's its motivation to start now?"
"Heh, yeah." Trent leaned forward. "But it's kind of cool, isn't it? Freaking everybody out like that. Do you guys know who was doing it?"
"Well, it had to be someone dumb enough to think that setting off fires and explosions constitutes a good time, so that narrows it down to most of the people I know."
"Hmm." Trent finished his pizza and rose to his feet. "Well, anyway. I'm gonna catch a few Z's before The Sharing meeting tonight. See ya later."
He left. It wasn't until we heard his door close upstairs that I turned back to Daria, who looked pale.
"Wow. Can you believe he quit the band?" I shook my head. "And just—out of nowhere, too. He never even talked to me about it."
"Uh-huh."
"And for an actual job? At some stupid club, of all places?" I shook my head slightly and picked up my pizza. "Man, he's acting weird lately."
"…Jane? You don't get it, do you?"
"What?"
"Acting weird? Suddenly changing his whole lifestyle? Asking us if we know anything about the 'fireworks' last night?"
I felt another chill. "What are you saying, Daria?" Our eyes locked. "Jane…I'm saying that Trent is probably a Controller."