I couldn’t believe it. I had never been sure I believed in Ellimists. I still wondered if it was some kind of trick. He looked fully human. But of course, for a true Ellimist, such things are easy.

“Am I really an Ellimist?” the man asked, mocking. “Let’s see. I know that Arbron still lives in the tunnels of the Living Hive. I know that you made a universe once, you and the human and the Yeerk called Visser Three.”

I jerked in surprise. “Visser Three?”

“Yes, he’s advanced quite far in the Yeerk hierarchy.”

“He should be dead!”

“Should be dead? Do you really think you can play games with time itself? Do you think you can change things around to suit you and not make a mess of it? Are you so naive, Andalite, that you can’t understand that time is a trillion, trillion, trillion strands, all woven and interwoven? That if you twist and break one strand it may have unforeseen effects in a thousand other places and times?”

“He’s alive. The visser.”

“Yes. He is alive. He still inhabits Alloran’s body.” The Ellimist focused gray human-seeming eyes on me. “He is a terrible enemy of your people.”

I shook my head. “Humans are my people now.”

“Like the human named Chapman? Is he one of your people?

“You. It was you. You brought him back here and erased his memory.”

“I undid an error in the time-space continuum. Chapman plays a part in what is still to come.”

“I don’t care,” I said harshly. “I don’t care about wars in far-off space.”

“Far off? Do you really think you are safe here, Elfangor? Do you assume the Yeerks will never come?”

I felt my throat clutching up. It happens to humans when they are upset or afraid. “Will they come here?”

“Elfangor, the first Yeerk advance scouts are in orbit above Earth right now.”

I said nothing for a long time. I looked out of the window, expecting to see Loren’s car pull up at any moment. But then I realized what a fool I was being. If the Ellimist didn’t want us to be interrupted, we wouldn’t be.

“There’s nothing I can do,” I said at last. “I tried my hand at being a hero. I failed.”

“Failed? You kept the Time Matrix from falling into the hands of either side, Yeerk or Andalite. You saved the galaxy.”

“I couldn’t save Arbron. I helped destroy Alloran and deliver him to the Yeerks to create the abomination he became. I wasn’t able to destroy that abomination. I was weak. I was foolish.”

“You refused to slaughter defenseless prisoners. You refused to destroy yourself in order to win a battle. You are wise, for a primitive creature. But you also altered the course of time by using the Time Matrix. And that has created awful problems. For your people. For both your peoples. Your peoples need you.”

I laughed. “No one needs me.”

“You are not where and when you should be, Elfangor.”

“The galaxy will get along without me.”

The Ellimist leaned forward and put his face close to mine. “No. It won’t.”

“What do you want from me?!” I yelled, suddenly enraged.

“We want nothing.”

“Liar! Why are you here if you don’t want anything?”

“We do not interfere in the affairs of other species.”

“Then go away! Get out! Leave me alone!”

“We do not interfere. But sometimes we repair what has been shattered.”

I froze. What stupid game was he playing? He wouldn’t interfere, but he would? Which was it? What did he want?

“What do I want? Nothing. But I can tell you that you have twisted and distorted time. Things are not as they should be. Battles are lost that should have been won. What should be safe is now endangered.”

“I can’t go back,” I pleaded. “I’m not an Andalite anymore. I’m human! I have a wife. I have a place here.”

“All a product of your meddling,” the Ellimist said. “The human girl Loren was meant to marry a human. You were meant to be a warrior. A great hero to your people. A mentor and guide to your brother.”

“I have a brother? He was born? I knew my family was preparing —”

“In this broken time line, no. But you should. He has a job to do. And so does another person who you do not even know exists. Elfangor, without you, your people, both your peoples, will be slaves of the Yeerks.”

I jumped back to my feet. “You’re lying. Manipulating me. Using me.”

“We don’t use anyone. We don’t interfere. But if you ask me to fix the mess you have made … to repair the time line so that you return to your destiny … that, and that alone, I can do.”

I wanted to hit him. I wanted to throw up. I hated the galaxy and everything in it.

“There is a battle, Elfangor. A turning point. Visser Three is there. You are supposed to be there. Right now.”

“I can’t leave Loren.”

“Listen to me, Elfangor. Visser Three will come to Earth one day. He remembers her. He remembers that she mocked him. Do you know what he will do to her? And will you be able to stop him, when he is surrounded by a thousand of his own troops?”

I felt warm liquid run down my cheeks. Tears. A human thing.

“And if I go back … if I ask you to repair the time line … will it save Earth? Will it save the Andalites? And my Loren?”

“No. Not by itself. But what is impossible now will become possible again.”

I looked at the creature who posed as a human. The creature who had the power to make entire solar systems disappear. “What game are you playing, Ellimist?”

“Will you cross-examine me, Andalite? Or will you ask me to undo the mess you have made?”

“Loren … ?”

“Will never know you existed. But you will know. You will still have your memories.”

I tried to smile, but it twisted cruelly on my lips. “You said something about a battle, Ellimist …”

“Come. I will carry you there. I will undo what was done, and repair the fabric of your fate, Elfangor.”