Chapter 1

As I sat perched in my tree, I sharpened my brand new arrows. My name is Golden Petal, and I JUST turned 13 years old in Dryad years, which is 13½ years old in human years. If you don’t know what a dryad is, that means you are a stupid human, so I will have to explain. A dryad is a small, elf-like creature, with pointy ears, normally only 3 feet tall. Most Dryads have different shades of brown hair, and brown eyes ranging from dark brown almost black eyes to golden brown eyes. I, however, am the exception. I have long, fiery red curly hair and emerald, almond shaped green eyes that are really big.

We Dryads live on the planet Krydd, the planet next to the Andalite home world. We Dryad’s HATE the Andalites. No, we are not Yeerk’s, and we hate them too, but we hate Andalites just as much. You see, the Andalites are the species that alerted the Yeerk’s to us. The Yeerk’s didn’t even know we were real until the Andalites decided to investigate our home planet. Now the Yeerk’s have destroyed our towns, wrecked our ships, and even destroyed parts of our trees! You see, whenever a tree sprouts on our home world, a Dryad is born, and that tree and Dryad grow together.

Since trees grow slowly, Dryad’s live for a really long time. My brother is 345 years old, and our queen, my mom, is 653 years old. Whenever a Dryad’s tree dies, that Dryad dies, too. Since the Yeerk’s destroyed our homes, we now all live in our trees. My tree is a small kushna tree (a tree from our planet. It has blue leaves, and a green trunk), so far. My mom says it will grow, though, because it is only 13 years old. Luckily, Yeerk’s can’t make Controller’s out of us because whenever a Yeerk enters us, our tree dies, which causes us to die, so they can’t infest us.

Anyway, every Dryad in the royal family, when they turn 13 years old takes a journey from our home world to earth, where they live 1 year, pretending to be a human (although we still look the same). At the end of the year, the Dryad’s parents come back to pick the Dryad up. If the Dryad chooses to stay on Earth, he or she can, and will never have any contact with the home world again. But if he/she wants to go home, he/she does, and will have an arranged marriage waiting for them. I know when I come back I will have to marry Prince Golden-Leaf. In case you haven’t noticed, all members of a royal family have Golden something as their name. My brother’s name is Golden Oak, and my mom’s name is GoldenStar. Also, the Queen is the main ruler for the Dryad’s. The King is just like a figurehead.

Okay, back to what I was saying, about having to go to Earth. I’ll be staying in a pre-made hollowed out oak tree. Don’t worry, the tree was already dead when they hollowed it out. I will attend an Earth middle school, and learn about Earth things.

Uck, I have to finish packing. I’ve already packed 6 other bags. Well, I have a lot of stuff! As I start throwing stuff into my bag, I decide what to take. I’ll take my archery set, clothes, my tree’s first leaf, (it’s lamented and framed ), a hologram of my family, my engagement ring to Prince Golden-Leaf, which is a golden band of miniature oak leaves (uck I just LOATH him, but I HAVE to marry him anyway. Oh well…), and my dagger, Dracon beam (we stole them from them the Yeerk’s), and a crossbow. “Neep, neep?” my Kuo-Ree, Keefe, asked. A Kuo-Ree is a small, blue or green (mine is aqua blue) furry animal with floppy ears, puppy eyes, and small curly tail. “Oh! I almost forgot you, Keefe! I’m sorry!” I attached a leash to Keefe’s collar, and wrapped it around my hand. “PETEL THE SHIP IS HERE!! GET DOWN TO THE LAUNCHING MEADOW RIGHT NOW!!” I heard my mom, the queen yelling. “COMING MOM!!” I grabbed my bag, picked up Keefe, and ran to the launching meadow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Chapter 2

I stared out the window of my room in the ship at the strange blue and green planet, Earth a thought-speech mechanical voice announced. I shook out of my trance, grabbed my bags and Keefe, and ran to the bridge. I greeted the captain, who was my best friend’s father, and looked out the transparent hull of the bridge as it docked in the hidden clearing in the Earth woods. “Well, Princess Petal, here is where we leave you. You know I can’t assist you at all, so you must take your bags and learn how to fend for yourself as an Earth child.” The captain said. Then he stooped down and hugged me, and quickly handed me a letter of luck from my best friend. “Good bye Effy!” he called as I walked out the ship. (Effy means Princess in our language). As I entered the woods, clutching Keefe close to my chest, I searched the meadow for the tree. I saw it RIGHT AWAY! It was GIGANTIC!!!! I mean, it was like 5 yards in diameter! And it was SO TALL! It towered high above ALL the other trees it was so huge! “Wow!” was all I could say as I entered the tree. It was totally hollow, and there was so much room! I lugged my 7 bags in, and pulled out the camouflage drapes I had been given. One rule of the stay on Earth: No force fields or holograms can be used to make your stay easier. So my holo picture of my family was still OK. I hung the drapes on the entrance of the tree, and all light was instantly blocked out. “Shoot!” I muttered under my breath. I quickly tied back the drapes, and the sunlight flowed in. I dug around in my bags, and I found the glow lights I had been given. Glow lights are lights that always stay lit, without needing electricity. I found small handholds in the tree, and scuttled all the way up to the top with the glow lights clutched under one arm. Up near the top of the tree, I quickly found a natural sort of shelf in the tree. I put the glow lights on the shelf, so all the light filtered down the tree trunk. I climbed back down to the bottom, and I pulled out the rope ladder I had HAD TO MAKE in school for this stupid trip. I climbed up to the top AGAIN and tied the ladder to an outcropping of wood up there. I tested it gently, then quickly climbed down. I scooped up the hammock I had to have, climbed up to the top of the ladder and tied the hammock up there RIGHT AT THE TOP of the ladder. I dumped my blankets, pillows, comforters, sheets, and stuffed animals on it, then jumped down to the ground. I went outside, found flat, rectangular rocks, to use for shelves, and attached them up and down the tree. First I put the holo of my family, the ring, my tree’s leaf, and my dagger on the tippy-top shelf. Then I put my pajama’s up in the top shelves, near my bed, then on the next shelves, I put my toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, and washcloth on them. Then I put all my makeup and hair stuff on the next shelves. Then my clothes, underclothes, and socks. Etc. etc. On the ground, I spread out soft carpets and put out a folding table and a chair. I put another glow light on the table. Then I went around to the back of the tree, and dug a hole to put my food in (it kept the food cold and fresh). There. I was done. I had a home! Wait. One thing I forgot. I climbed back up to the top of the tree, found a natural BIG hollowed out branch, and put in the instant-pre-made-always working shower, sink, and toilet [a/n: My sister was reading this as I wrote it. She kept on saying “Where’s the bathroom, where’s the bathroom?” so I added that in to please her ] I had been given on the ship. Then I went back outside. Keefe ran up to me, and I picked him up. He wiggled happily in my arms, and licked my face. I yawned deeply, walked in my home, closed the drapes, and kicked off my shoes. I neatly put them on the lowest shelf, along with my coat. Then I climbed up to my hammock with Keefe under my arm. I put him gently down, then grabbed some pajamas and changed in a hollowed out HUGE branch near the top of the tree. I jumped into bed, and fell asleep instantly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Chapter 3 I nervously walked to what the human’s called a “bus stop”. I stood in a group of other human children my age. I noticed several of them giving me strange looks. One of them, a tall, blond walked over to me, dragging a short black girl with her. “Hi! My name is Rachel, and this is my best friend Cassie. Are you new here?” the tall blond said. Luckily I had been prepared for this. I had been trained in human dialogue and stuff. “Yeah, I’m new. Moved here from the Netherlands [a/n: hehehe… I’m studying the Netherlands in school so I just had to add that in]. My name’s Petal” I said, looking at the two girls. Then the yellow “school bus” came down the street. “Petal, come on! Here’s the bus!” Cassie called, as she boarded the bus. I climbed into the bus, and sat down in front of Cassie and Rachel.

The school day passed fairly uneventfully. I walked out of school with Rachel, (Cassie had to stay after to finish a science project). I decided to test Rachel’s power using my mind (it’s a talent we Dryads have). I concentrated on her, and nearly tripped on a curb in surprise. She had the Andalite morphing power!!!!!!!! I grabbed her by the shoulder, and whispered in her ear “You can morph?!” Rachel spun in surprise and grabbed my shoulder. “Yeerk!” she snarled. “No! I’m not a Yeerk!” I said quickly. But she pulled me down the street and dragged me to a barn. She pushed me into the entrance, then shoved me down into a chair. She quickly grabbed some rope, and tied me down. “Let me go!!!” I screamed. Then Rachel stuffed a cloth in my mouth to gag me. She then whacked me over the head with a crowbar, and I fell unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Chapter 4 I awoke to find the gag out of my mouth, a HUGE bruise on my head, and I was still tied down to a table. “LET ME GO!!!!!!” I screamed, struggling against my bounds. An Andalite head bent over me suddenly, and I screamed. “ANDALITE!!!!” Then I fainted from surprise

I awoke to find the Andalite saying: The Andalite said, turning to the brown haired boy. “A what?” The black haired guy asked. “Ah.” The boy named Marco said, confused. “You don’t want to tell them the whole story, do you, Andalite?” I sneered, still kinda drowsy from fainting. If I had been fully awake, I wouldn’t of said anything like that. “What is she talking about, Ax?” Jake asked. Ax hung his stalk eyes, and muttered in thought-speech, “You just don’t want to tell them the truth about how your species condemned my entire race, do you?” I yelled. I saw the four humans and the hawk turn to stare at Ax in surprise and horror. “You don’t want to tell them how you came to investigate our planet, and led the Yeerk’s right to us!!” “Ax?!” Cassie said in surprise and horror. the Andalite cried. I remained silent. “To change the subject…” Marco said “What are we going to do about her?” The group formed a huddle, then broke. “We are going to give you the morphing power.” Jake announced.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Chapter 5 “Say what?!” I said. Not exactly the smartest thing to say, but I was surprised! “We. Are. Going. To. Give. You. The. Morphing. Power.” Marco said, like he was talking to an idiot. “Oh.” I said dumbly. “But… But it is Andalite! I can’t… can’t accept something that is Andalite!” The four humans looked at the Andalite to see if he could solve this problem. The Andalite called “Ax” asked. “Golden Petal, actually. I am a member of the royal family.” I said slightly arrogantly. Well, I couldn’t help it! I was standing in front of our enemy, the Andalite’s! “Well… okay, I guess…” I agreed hesitantly. Then, as an after-thought: “Well, I’m gonna be the QUEEN of the Dryads!” I can’t be beaten by an Andalite. “Okaaay. Good. Cassie, get the box!” Jake ordered. I guess he is the leader. Cassie ran out of the barn and came back a moment later carrying a glowing blue box. Ax took the box and faced me. I could tell he didn’t want to do this. I faced the Andalite with my head held high. I was going to look proud in front of the evil Andalite. “Proud little elf, ain’t she?” Marco muttered to Jake under his breath. “She should get along just fine with Ax then” he answered. “I don’t think they like each other very much, though.” Marco replied. “Age old hatred, I guess.” Jake said. I ignored this, and focused on the box. the Andalite said with a sigh in his thought-speech voice. I obeyed, and instantly felt a tingle go through my body. The Andalite took the box away, and said:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Chapter 6 There were a few tense moments of silence while the Andalite and I glared across the table at each other. “So.” I said, breaking the silence, “You guys wanna see where I live?” “Sure!” Cassie said quickly, before Marco could make a snide remark. I led them out of the barn, and through the woods a little way. I stopped in front of my tree, and pulled open the drapes. “Wow!” was all they could say as they stared at my rather strange house. “You have everything! And you live in a tree! How do you do it?” Marco demanded. “We Dryads are used to living in trees.” I said, glaring at the Andalite. I quickly climbed up the ladder, before anyone could say anything, and saw Keefe sleeping on my pillow. I picked him up, and climbed back to the others. “This is Keefe. He is a Kuo-Ree, a species from my planet.” “He is SO CUTE!” Cassie cried. “Can I hold him?” “Sure,” I replied, “Just be gentle.” I handed her Keefe, and she gently stroked his head. Keefe cooed softly, and snuggled into the crook of Cassie’s arm. After awhile, I took Keefe back. “Now. I want to morph him.” I said determinedly. “How do I do that?” Tobias, the hawk, said. I gently stroked his head, and concentrated. I felt a slight tingle go through my arm. “Now concentrate on his form. Imagine letting yourself go, and flowing into another body.” Cassie said. I did as she said, and felt myself begin to shrink. “Woah!” I said in surprise. Then I sprouted blue-green fur everywhere. My ears grew bigger and floppy, and my eyes grew large. The bones in my legs and arms switched directions, and I grew a curly tail. There. I was a Kuo-Ree!! I had better then Dryad hearing, and an excellent scent of smell. I could smell everything! My eyes were okay, and they still saw in color (Kuo-Ree’s are different then dogs in that way). I sniffed around eagerly, and smelled something exactly like me!! Wha.. What? I thought. Who is this thing that stole my smell!! Tobias called. Suddenly I felt my mind snap back. It was Keefe I was smelling!! I said in thought-speech. I said. “You’ll get use to it.” Marco said. “Hopefully, anyway.” I demorphed, and everyone went home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Chapter 7 As I lay in my hammock, I thought over what had happened to me that day. I had met five kids, well, four kids and one bird with the mind of a kid, who had the morphing power, and I had met an evil Andalite. But I couldn’t really think of him as evil anymore. Strange. I thought to myself. The Andalite seems sort of like some of my male friends back at home. I could get to like him. But I couldn’t think those thoughts! Andalites are evil! Evil! I HAVE to remember that. But it is hard… Suddenly, at the front of my home, I heard a loud banging. I accidentally FELL out of my hammock (yes fell. Well, I was surprised!) and landed on my butt. I noticed the drapes to the tree were open, and standing there was the Andalite! “What do YOU want?” I said, with as much pride as I could muster, sitting on the ground on my butt. The Andalite said, quickly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Chapter 8 The Andalite and I stared across the table at each other. It was a couple of hours later, and everyone else but him had left. We had decided that Ax could stay on the floor (Andalites sleep standing up), and that we would drape a sheet over top of him, with a hole at the top where the ladder stretched down through. It was about 9 o’clock at night, and I was about to go to bed. “Well,” I said, breaking the silence. “I’m going to go up into the hollow branch near my bed to change. If you look up, I will shoot you through the heart I swear to Gonshuk!” (Gonshuck is the Dryad’s god of war). Aximili asked, confused. “You really are oblivious, aren’t you?” I sighed, as I climbed up the rope ladder and swung into the hollowed out branch that I had been using as a changing space. I quickly changed, and looked down to make sure Ax hadn’t been looking. He was looking at the holo of my family closely, as if he had never seen our species before. I climbed back down the ladder, and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He jumped, like he had been caught doing something wrong. He spun around, his tail ready to strike. Then he saw it was just me, and relaxed. “Well… umm…” I stuttered, shifting from one foot to another uncomfortably, “I just came down to say good night.” Well, I find it uncomfortable to be sharing a house with an Andalite! Suddenly, the top of my tree was chopped off, and staring down at me was a vicious looking Hork-Bajir!!! I screamed in terror, and gripped Ax’s arm tightly. I felt him shaking me, trying to get me out of my daze. Seeing that that wasn’t working, he scooped me up in his weak Andalite arms (lucky, me, being a Dryad, only weigh 35 pounds). He started to run, and after a short while, he outdistanced the Hork-Bajir by far. He gently lay me down, and said < Petal, Petal, snap out of it!> (he had begun to pick up human phrases). I said, a little dazedly, “Wha… What happened? How did they find out where we were?” < They must have gotten Prince Jake. > Ax said grimly. Then I saw a rustling in the bushes, and the battered form of a bird of prey dropped onto the ground. Ax yelled, and ran to his Shorm. Tobias said weakly. “WHAT??!!” I yelled. Then, out of nowhere, an incredibly large Hork-Bajir dropped out of a large pine tree. I saw his blade rushing towards me. I felt a white-hot moment of pain on my chest, then I saw no more for a long while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Chapter 9 I awoke to find myself suspended as though in thin air. I couldn’t move at all, and all I saw was a milky whiteness. Suddenly I heard a loud, demanding voice sound in through my head. “VISSER 3!!” I tried to scream, but no sound came out of my mouth. , the Visser sneered. Then I fell to the ground. The Visser had turned off the force field. I stumbled to my feet, and backed away from the Visser. “What do you want from me?!!” I asked, scared. , the Visser smirked, My eyes, wide with horror, noticed something blue behind the Visser. My scared, jittery mind focused on it, and I realized it was Andalite fur.