#22+

The whole sequence in the school cafeteria, where the gloves come off, really shows why (no matter what Rachel thinks) Visser Three really does have reason to fear the Animorphs. Jake literally laughs in David's face when David asks him for the morphing cube, despite Rachel noting seconds before that Jake is visibly shell-shocked from last night. Cassie effortlessly figures out why David wants the cube, and plays him like a fiddle with her "I know you're afraid, and I know that deep down inside you feel very sorry for what happened last night" speech (p. 42). Rachel and Jake coordinate the lie about Tobias being dead in real time. All three of them clock in a matter of seconds that "Marco" is actually David. He's in way over his head, and has no idea the codependent murder polycule he's messing with.

Also: Rachel confronting David as they're both human and David calmly saying "maybe you forget this sometimes, but you are a girl, Rachel," (p. 45). Only to have Rachel prove that she can, in fact, kick his ass in a fight as her own little girl self. Maybe Rachel comes to recognize it as crossing an ethical line, but damn does it feel good to see her prove to David just how much power she has over him without ever needing to morph.

Rachel's echoing fear that Tobias would never go so far as to threaten a human host, vs. Tobias's announcing to Taylor that "I want you to die". And Tobias's ironclad belief that Rachel would never go so far as to deliberately hurt a human host, against his disgust with himself for overthinking ethical decisions while Rachel simply does the right thing. Your Honor, I love them.

This does seem to be Ax's first time in dolphin morph? He uses shark in #4 and #15. It seems to be one of the rare moments when an Animorph gets a new morph off-screen. I do like the way he comments on «All the worry I felt seems to have evaporated. I feel... quite relaxed. Happy, even» (p. 63). What an utterly Ax way of describing a giddy morph.

I never noticed Checkov's Island before. But Rachel notes on their way to the World Leaders' Conference that "a small, rugged island about a mile offshore" is the outer limit of the security submarines' patrol route — and that's where they end up dropping David off.