The Journey (Animorphs)

infobox Book |
name = The Journey
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Rachel morphing into an african elephant
author = K. A. Applegate
illustrator =
cover_artist = David B. Mattingly
country = United States
language = English
series = Animorphs #42
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Scholastic
release_date = May 2000
english_release_date =
media_type = Print
pages = 139
isbn =
preceded_by = The Familiar
followed_by = The Test

"The Journey" is the forty-second book in the "Animorphs" series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is known to have been ghostwritten by Emily Costello. It is co-narrated by Rachel and Marco.

Plot Summary

Someone takes a picture of the Animorphs while they are demorphing. When they go to Cassie's barn, the Helmacrons are there again. In the battle that ensues, the Helmacrons leave the ship and enter Marco's nose. The Animorphs decide to use the Helmacron ship to shrink themselves so they can follow the Helmacrons and stop them from killing Marco from the inside. When they shrink, they realise that they are too small to hear which didn't happen the last time they were shrunk. When they meet the Helmacrons inside Marco's nose, they realise that they have been shrunk to 1/100th the size of the Helmacrons, because they sabotaged the shrinking device before they left. Meanwhile, Marco is bored of just sitting around and decides to go over to the apartment of the person who took their picture to try to steal it. When he is there, he gets bitten by the dog and flees home. The Animorphs follow the Helmacrons into the stomach where they are burnt for a while before morphing sharks and following the Helmacrons into the bloodstream. They realise that when they reach the heart, the Helmacrons can stop it from beating with their weapons. Marco goes back to the apartment a second time, and while he is there someone comes home. He is trapped in the closet and against Jake's orders, morphs a cockroach. The helmacrons and Animorphs leave the body. Later at home, Rachel researches on the computer and discovers that the virus she saw in Marco's bloodstream was rabies.

Morphs

Trivia

* This is the thirteenth book to feature a cover morph that was not acquired in the book. Rachel acquired her African elephant morph in the first book, "The Invasion".
* The front cover quote is, "Rachel is about to go where no human has gone before...."
* This is the second book in the regular series (excluding Megamorphs and Chronicles) in which more than one Animorph narrates. Marco narrates in various places throughout the book.
* In book #2, The Visitor, Cassie advises that it's important for all the Animorphs to get vaccinations against catching rabies. Since Marco contracts the disease in this book, we know that he didn't bother following through on this piece of advice.