Lev has the same impulse. He mouths the Mourner's Kaddish. 

Eventually the remaining aliens fire their beam weapons again, several times, this time successfully destroying all traces of the Andalite ship. They pile back into their own crafts and take off. It's pitch-black outside by the time the construction site is silent again.

Karen realizes she's still holding Lev's hand and lets go.

"So that... happened. Probably. Maybe."

He is so disappointed and also mad at himself for not letting go first. What if he touched her when she didn't want to be touched."

"I don't think collective hallucinations usually happen so if we both saw the same thing it's probably true."

"That's... concerning."

"Not the best way to find out aliens are real."

He is excited to talk to Karen, and terrified of saying something stupid, and mad that this is what he's thinking about when aliens were literally just happening.

She is, like, zero percent prepared for this situation. Less than zero percent. Actually maybe, like, four percent, she has seen every episode of Star Trek, maybe you could technically do worse if you got someone who had never thought about anything.

"We should find Asher and Dennis and see what they remember. And - see if the thing works. The morphing thing. And come up with - figure out what we're going to tell our parents."

He starts walking in the direction he remembers Dennis running.

"My parents are going to kill me."

She walks. She's pretty sure he headed off in the direction of the convenience store. "Yeah, well. Not if the aliens get you first. Uh - I'm Karen, I don't remember if I said."

"I know," he says. "We're both in art class."

AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHH.

"Yeah, I just - don't wanna assume people remember. You're Lev, right?"

SHE KNOWS HIS NAME.

"Yes."

Asher is running back towards them. 

"So," he says. "Aliens."

"Aliens," agrees Karen. "How much did you see?"

"The whole thing, I want to know as much as I can about the alien fucking invasion."

"Yeah. We don't know how many of them there are, or how far along they are, or - almost anything, other than that it's happening and everyone else doesn't know."

"Sounds exciting."

"I am pretty sure if I become a child soldier my parents will kill me."

"Figuratively or literally, though, because the - Yeerks? Looked pretty literal about it."

"Fig... uratively?" He sounds less sure about this than one would usually hope.

"Well. We don't have to tell them everything if they wouldn't believe us. And - we don't even know if it's safe, right, Elfangor thought the Yeerks might have already infiltrated the government?"

"Yeah, we shouldn't tell the government. We can't trust anyone except the four of us."

"I don't... think... I am going to start a war against an alien species with three other teenagers?"

"We don't know enough about what's happening. We probably can't do anything by ourselves, but at least if we learn more maybe we can figure out someone we should be telling about this?"

"I mean. I have to like. Get into college and things."