The Secret (novel)
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''The Secret'' is the ninth book in the ''
Animorphs ''Animorphs'' is a science fantasy series of children's books written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, writing together under the name K. A. Applegate, and published by Scholastic. It is told in first person, with all ...
'' series, written by
K.A. Applegate Katherine Alice Applegate (born October 9, 1956), known professionally as K. A. Applegate or Katherine Applegate, is an American young adult and children's fiction writer, best known as the author of the ''Animorphs'', ''Remnants'', ''Everworld'' ...
. It is narrated by
Cassie Cassie is a feminine given name and a short form of various other given names mostly used in English-speaking countries. It is more rarely a surname. People and fictional characters named Cassie include: People with the name Given name or nickna ...
.


Plot summary

Cassie and the Animorphs discover from Ax and
Tobias Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible ...
that the Yeerks have set up a dummy logging company, called Dapsen Logging Company, in the woods. The Yeerks want to destroy the forest in order to find the "Andalite bandits," whom they believe to be living there. The Animorphs go to check it out, but are discovered, chased away, and shot at. Cassie and her father later find an injured skunk, that was hit by a Dracon beam in the fighting. Cassie's father finds that there is a good chance that the skunk had recently given birth, and Cassie is stricken with guilt. Cassie suggests to the others that they need to find out how the Yeerks got permission to cut trees in a National Forest. If they didn't have permission, the
news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and ...
would bring attention to them, something they surely did not want. The group decides to go back and enter the logging camp to find this information. Tobias notices that there are
termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blatto ...
tunnels in the building, and they decide to morph termites to get in.
Jake Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach Animals * Jake (rescue dog), a ...
causes a distraction by morphing into a wolf while the others (excluding Tobias) morph and enter the building. There is a brief episode where they are controlled by the termite queen's orders and lose control of themselves. Cassie kills the termite queen to free her friends and herself from the queen's control, but felt much guilt by it. The Animorphs get the information they need, disable the Yeerks' defenses, and escape unnoticed. The Animorphs find out that there is a committee of three people who must decide on giving the logging operation a go. One has already voted yes and one has voted no; the other, a man called Farrand, was due to make a visit to the camp in order to make his decision. The Animorphs decide to intercede when Farrand makes his visit, as the Yeerks will surely turn him into a Controller at that point to ensure an affirmative vote. Meanwhile, Cassie is still concerned with the skunk babies and decides to look for them. Tobias is able to tell her where the litter of kits is, having found five and eaten one. Cassie rescues them and the Animorphs take over tending the kits, with Tobias doing much of the skunk-sitting while the other Animorphs are in school.
Marco Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...
ends up naming the skunk kits after members of The Ramones, such as
Joey Joey may refer to: People *Joey (name) Animals * Joey (marsupial), an infant marsupial * Joey, a Blue-fronted Amazon parrot who was one of the Blue Peter pets Film and television * ''Joey'' (1977 film), an American film directed by Horac ...
,
Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varian ...
, Marky and C.J. In the final showdown, the Yeerks capture Cassie and Farrand, but she morphs into a skunk and sprays all of the Controllers and
Visser Three ''Animorphs'' is a science fantasy series of children's books written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, writing together under the name K. A. Applegate, and published by Scholastic. It is told in first person, with all ...
. Ax makes a bargain with Visser Three, offering information on how to get rid of the skunk smell in return for the release of Farrand. Visser Three agrees, and Farrand is transported to a hospital. As soon as he can, Farrand makes a phone call to vote against the logging, and he will likely bring litigation against the company. In return for the release of the human, Ax tells the Yeerks that
grape juice Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7–23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as '' must''. The sugars in grape juice allow it to be ...
will remove the stink (instead of tomato juice, which at best masks the smell), and Tobias later reports that a pool of grape juice was made for Visser Three to soak in. Visser Three hasn't gotten rid of the skunk smell, and in addition is a "lovely, attractive shade of purple." Morphs


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Secret (Animorphs) Secret, The 1997 American novels 1997 science fiction novels Environmental fiction books