Karen is a Controller, and the Yeerk’s brother was the one Controlling the Hork Bajir Cassie had killed the other day. She quickly figures out that Karen was the one spying on her, and Karen confronts Cassie, saying she knows what she is, and that Cassie killed her brother. The girl’s name is Karen, and Cassie is immediately suspicious of her, noting that she doesn’t speak like a kid. Cassie almost drowns, but wakes up later on the shore, with the girl standing near her. Cassie jumps into action and manages to snag the girl, but as the horse panics, they both are knocked into a near by river. As she rides, she comes across a small girl being chased by a bear.

Not in the best head space, Cassie decides to go for a ride in the woods. Tobias simply flies away, and Jake tells her that she can’t use her morphing abilities at all, if she’s not part of the group. Rachel sees Cassie quitting as a condemnation of everything Rachel is, that Cassie would rather leave than be like her. Marco, unsurprisingly, simply calls Cassie a coward, choosing to selfishly focus on her own needs rather than the sacrifices it takes to save the world. As it becomes clear that, yes, yes she is serious, the group reacts with varying degrees of outrage. The next day, the group confronts her in the barn about her decision, mostly refusing to believe she was serious.

She wakes up and wanders to her window where she thinks she glimpses a pair of eyes looking back up at her. With all of these happy thoughts, Cassie goes to bed, only to be plagued by nightmares. Plus, there’s a leopard loose in the woods, escaped from a local exotic collector.

That night Cassie learns from her parents that the wildlife rehab center they run in their barn has lost funding and will likely have to close. To Cassie, this is evidence that she is losing her ability to care, becoming deadened to the fight, and that’s something she can’t stand. It all comes to a head when she goes in for the kill on a Hork Bajir she was fighting, even after Jake calls for a retreat. With that blazing intro, let’s dive in!ĭuring a “spy on The Sharing” mission that goes bad and results in a battle with Hork Bajir, Cassie finds herself hitting the metaphorical wall of “had it” with the violence that is life as an Animorphs. So, while Cassie was still infuriating, I did end up not hating it as much as I remember hating it. But, I will say, there were aspects of this story that I didn’t appreciate as a kid, especially the very in-depth conversations about war and morality, that I was much more on board for during this read. Plot: Oh man, the book I’ve been dreading: the one where Cassie quits the Animorphs.

She decides that she just can’t do it anymore. After the last mission, she realizes she’s getting tired of missions. Publishing Info: Scholastic Paperbacks, July 1998īook Description: Cassie’s had it.

The Departure by K.A. Applegate