The Exposed (novel)

The Exposed is the 27th book in the Animorphs series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is known to have been ghostwritten by Laura Battyanyi-Weiss, although due to an editorial oversight, Battyanyi-Weiss was uncredited for this book. It is narrated by Rachel.

The front cover quote is "They thought they'd seen it all. They were wrong...." The inside front cover quote is "Rachel's getting a sinking feeling..."

Plot summary

During a shopping trip with Cassie, Rachel discovers Erek having problems: his hologram malfunctions. Barely managing to get him away in time, they discover all of the Chee are having problems with certain aspects of their technology, particularly their holograms, owing to interference with the Pemalite ship hidden in the ocean. Of all the Chee, two are currently still in danger, while the rest have successfully hidden themselves.

One of the Chee in danger, Lourdes, is hidden in a flophouse where drug fencing occurs, but a SWAT team - with a Controller member - are about to raid the house. After rescuing Lourdes, they have to travel to the bottom of the ocean, to fix the problem of the malfunctioning holograms, but have problems thinking of the morph they could use to go in so deep into the ocean. Cassie found the solution: morphing into a giant squid. But the problem was that none of them had acquired that morph, and they had no idea where to get it, though they know for a fact that sperm whales captured giant squids.

They were let down until they find out that a sperm whale has conveniently beached, so Rachel and Tobias acquire it and dive to find a squid. Upon finding and battling one, the group all acquire it and release it, and then dive to the ship. They notice several Yeerk bug fighters en route to the Pemalite ship as well, following the signal. Reaching it first, they use the single-digit access code to infiltrate it and fix the Chee programming, but then a self-destruct sequence is initiated too.

The group is confronted by a being called the Drode, an aide of sorts to Crayak, who threatens and insults them all. He shows some bizarre fondness for Rachel and tells her that if she wanted favour with the Crayak, she should kill Jake, telling Rachel that her passport to Crayak's side is Jake. The Yeerks also emerge into the ship, and the group must stand and fight them before allowing them to gain control. But as the battle reaches a climax, Erek appears - to the shock of the Drode - and activates a violence-dispeller. The Yeerks and Animorphs are forced to leave the ship, and the Chee have their holograms restored.

Contributions to the series' story arc

• The Drode is introduced.
• Tobias and Rachel's relationship is further explored. Rachel is asked out by someone other than Tobias, and she is tempted by the prospect of a normal romantic relationship, but rudely tells him no, concluding in the end that, no matter how tempting the prospect of a normal relationship is, no normal guy would go to the lengths that Tobias has gone to in order to keep her safe.
• For the first time, Crayak's interest in Rachel is hinted at and explored.

Morphs