The Threat (Animorphs)

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Animorphs 21: The Threat
Author	K.A. Applegate
Cover quote	The newest Animorph has a secret. And it's not good...
Illustrator	David B. Mattingly
Narrator	Jake
Pages	158
Release date	1998
Previous Book	The Discovery
Next Book	The Solution

The Threat is a science fiction novel by K.A. Applegate.

• New Morphs: Jake- Dragonfly, David- Lion, Flea, Seagull, Random Male Secret Service Controller

After falling from the Blade ship, the Animorphs are snagged from mid-air by Rachel and Tobias, in their respective eagle and hawk morphs. They land on the beach, needing a plan to infiltrate the Marriott resort. Jake becomes aware of the tensions between David and Marco, and is disturbed by David's unnecessary excesses. The team morphs to seagulls, and spy out the compound, crawling with security agents armed to the teeth and accompanied by dogs. They're zapped by a man wearing sunglasses with weak Dracon beam emitters built into them. Jake directs them to leave.

Upon his return home, his parents tell Jake and his brother Tom that their obnoxious cousin, Saddler, was gravely injured in a car accident, and that they were leaving town to spend time with the crippled child's parents. Jake is presented with the opportunity to advance his plans. Unfortunately, that night, David disappears from Cassie's barn. Jake morphs his dog, Homer, and tracks David's scent to an inn. David had morphed his golden eagle, smashed the window with a rock and entered without paying. Jake warns him of the implications of this action. David doesn't hide his contempt, but leaves with Jake, anyway.

Cassie formulates a plan to infiltrate the resort. Jake morphs a dragonfly, while the other Animorphs, with the exception of Tobias, morph fleas and latch onto Jake's body. Tobias guides them to the hotel. Inside, Jake tries to find the banquet hall where the speeches and infestations will take place. Inside an air vent, he is caught in a spider web. A terrified David demorphs, and the others follow suit. Cassie is crushed. He releases them, and they begin demorphing. Marco is stuck mid-morph, as a giant flea. They begin to despair, but Cassie guides Marco and enables him to demorph. Jake inspects the banquet room, and notices the number of holograms in place. Here they discover how the Yeerks plan to infest each world leader. They return to the barn, and Cassie explains why the Visser is in personal command of the operation. Now the Animorphs need a plan to thwart it. They return to the resort, knock out the guards, morph them, and reenter the banquet. Soon they realise they'd been deceived, and had fallen into Visser Three's trap. David is frightened and turns against the Animorphs in order to preserve his own life. It isn't long, though, before they discover that the Hork-Bajir surrounding them were just holograms. They take the Visser hostage, and withdraw. The Animorphs, now disgusted with David, try to plan their next move.

But during the night, David returns to his old home in eagle morph. Jake and Ax pursue him, only to find that David had apparently killed Tobias. David explains that the Animorphs weren't treating him as an equal, and that he'd have to take matters into his own hands. Enraged, Jake engages David, only to be ambushed by Hork-Bajir. Ax rescues Jake, and escape. David then leads Jake to the mall, and they each morph their battle morphs, lion and tiger respectively. After a brief duel, David severs Jake's carotid artery, leaving him to bleed to death...