What happens when the Ellimist meddles ever so slightly in the game against Crayak? When he manages to influence events so subtly that Crayak doesn't notice?
(Set post-#21. David, on the verge of demorphing and revealing that the Andalite bandits are human, is suddenly shown a set of disturbing visions by the Ellimist. He sees a red eye, flashes of him beating the Animorphs at their own game, and the most traumatising...him as a rat, trapped in morph forever. The Ellimist warns him that if he turns against the Animorphs, this will be the future that awaits him. Sufficiently terrified, David quickly turns the situation around. Attacking the Visser, he manages to cover everything with a bluff- he tells the Visser that the real human David has escaped with the blue box, hoping that the Visser will waste time hunting down a non-existent escaped boy. Visser is led to believe that they are all Andalites and nothing incriminating is revealed. It picks up just after the Animorphs return from the mission. - an earlier version of this contained a complete introduction more detailed than this summary, but I lost it when my computer crashed and lazily I had no desire to write it again, sorry!)
OneAs I lay in the hayloft, staring up through the darkness, my mind worked furiously. It had been a long day and I wasn't going to go doing anything stupid. Normally I would have crept out and stayed somewhere more comfortable. After last time, where I broke a hotel window and got caught red-handed by Jake, I had refined my plan- morph insect, sneak into room and if it was free, demorph and spend the night before sneaking back into the barn in the morning. But now I couldn't afford to do that. It had been a long day and I was extremely wary of doing anything that the Animorphs would take offence at.
The voice...or whatever it was...had shown me my future, shown me what would happen if I decided to fight the Animorphs. It sickened me to know that I was so close to winning when they trapped me as a rat. I couldn't let that happen. But I didn't want to remain the rookie in the group and be treated like dirt. I'd already lost most of their trust today.
But I knew Cassie could see at least some of my panic when we remorphed birds and flew back. She could hear it in my thought-speak. She must have privately convinced everyone to lay off with the questions and teasing. I shut my eyes as I wondered for the thousandth time what to do; how to fit in with the group. If I was going to avoid being trapped in morph, I needed to behave well enough to make the others feel comfortable about me being in the group. And if it meant no more using my morphs in ingenious ways , then that was too bad. I just wanted somewhere to feel like home if I couldn't have my family back and the Animorphs, as much as I had hated Jake for saying it, were my family now.
<David?> A cautious thought-speak voice entered my mind quietly. I shifted slightly. <Are you still awake?> I cracked an eyelid open and spotted a red-tailed hawk perched on the other side of the hayloft, illuminated by the streaks of moonlight that filtered through the roof. Obviously his sight wasn't so good in the night-time. I opened my mouth to answer but felt my stomach clench as I remembered the image of the downed red-tail that was Tobias, but not Tobias, me hovering over the dead body as a triumphant golden eagle. <Hey?> He tried once more and I finally managed to reply.
"What is it, Tobias?" I muttered in an exhausted tone. I couldn't snap at him, not yet. He flew over and perched on a rafter above me.
<You...we all had a tough day today. You did well.> My temper frayed.
"Don't give me that crap. I know I messed up and I know at least someone wants my head for it." That someone being Marco, I reflected sourly. The hawk remained inert, staring down with its powerful eyes, but Tobias sounded uncertain.
<You aren't happy about today? You almost took down Visser Three. That's closer than most of us have ever gotten to harming him.> I turned over on my side so that he couldn't see my face. Of course I would have boasted, but the overwhelming vividness of the images I'd seen had sent me into shock. I wasn't myself.
"But at what cost? I almost betrayed you all and I promise you that M-
someone would rather that you...dealt with me after today." I would rather be asleep. At least while I was asleep, even if I had nightmares, I wouldn't have to face reality just yet. And I craved that peaceful feeling when you wake up in the middle of the night, the one where you're half-asleep still and know that you still have another six hours to go before you get up, when nothing seems like a problem. The hawk began to preen and I took it for a sign of nervousness.
<Marco can be...out of line sometimes.> I bit back a snide reply, simply thinking Well, I'm glad someone agrees with me! and remained silent. <Look, I'll be honest. Jake didn't put me up to this. I don't know how much you've managed to observe about us, but if anything, you should know that Cassie would be the one trying to comfort you right now.> He had a point, I conceded grudgingly. He couldn't fly too well in the night and should be asleep right about now. <The reason I came over here now is to...well, I guess you must be feeling pretty alone after everything.> There was no way I would admit that to anyone, even the bird-freak-boy. <I spent a good long while feeling alone, shortly after I got trapped in morph. Spent a while thinking things over, thinking that I should give up on trying to be human when there was nothing human left of me.> His pensive tone caught my attention, and in spite of myself I rolled onto my back, staring up at the unmoving hawk. <Nobody understood what I was going through. All I got was pity. You might not be in the same situation, but we're in the same boat. I bet you noticed that Cassie pities you. Everyone else did at the start too. And pity doesn't make you any less lonely.> He'd hit the nail on the head there. I looked up at him almost in a daze. Was it the powerful hawk eyes that had given him such insight, or the human mind within the bird's body? <I just wanted to tell you that if ever you feel like it's all too much, I'm always around. I know Jake gets all weird about using morphs for personal amusement, but I bet he never told you about turning into a tiger and running around on roofs at night.> He never did! I fumed quietly. <So if you really need to escape, like I said, I'm always here and we can catch some thermals, take a nice relaxing flight.>
"Tobias...who are you closest to out of everyone?" I blurted out on impulse. The hawk glared down at me keenly.
<Well...it might sound stupid, but it's to Ax. He was the only alien around, I was a weird bird-boy with a messed-up head. We spend a lot of time together 'cause we both live in the forest. Ax even called me his shorm, which he says in Andalite culture is a true friend, someone you would trust not to slice and dice you even if they held their tail-blade up to your throat.> I nodded slowly, forgetting he couldn't see too well. Everything Tobias said was new to me. Maybe I should start off by actually getting to know the Animorphs.
"Tobias?" The hawk made no move to recognise my speech, but I guessed he was listening. "...what with everything going crazy lately, I never really got the chance to get to know everyone." I took a deep breath, feeling like I was surrendering to everyone. It stung me as I admitted to my mistakes. "I know my behaviour hasn't been...the best." There was a moment of silence as we both remembered the hotel incident, even the time where I killed a crow seemingly on instinct. "I know I almost got us killed. But...I think things could change if we worked as a team. I want to...get to know my new team. I think it'd be best."
<Hey man, it's OK. Things haven't exactly been the best for you either.> Tobias sounded relieved at my admission of weakness, alluding to my parents. But before I could react, he added, <It's been a bumpy ride so far. We don't have much time now because of the world leaders' summit, but the sooner we start, the sooner we can start building up our new team.> He added a parting message of wisdom, <Don't let Marco get to you, OK? He's not usually quite so...harsh.> The next comment made me realise that I now had one Animorph who believed in me. <You didn't hear this from me, alright? But having a new member who's cunning like him, who has the kind of sense that he's got, and one who makes jokes bothers him slightly. He probaly feels really uncomfortable having someone just like him around when he's used to being the joker of the group.> I fought to keep a smug smile off my face as I heard the effect I had on Marco. <So don't take it personally, right? He's used to everyone having their own role in the team and I think it bothers him to have the balance all shaken up.>
In the flashes of the future I'd been witness to, I'd seen how exactly the team worked. Rachel was the warrior, Cassie the empath and even manipulator of people, Jake was the fearless leader, Ax the technology expert. Marco was the cynic who could predict the future and craft plans surprisingly well, and Tobias? He was a scout. Where would I fit in? As I began to consider this new issue, Tobias made his farewells. <Don't worry too much. Just try and get some sleep. We won't be getting much until this mission is over.> He took off silently and it bothered me to find that deep down, his reassuring tone and calming words had ever so slightly soothed the storm brewing in my mind.
I woke at dawn after a night of fitful sleep, climbing down from the hayloft with only one action in mind. Slipping out of the barn silently, I squinted as the rising sun's light blinded me momentarily. Closing my eyes, I began to focus. The grinding sound my bones made as they shifted around inside me scared off a couple of sparrows in a nearby tree as I began to shrink and my hair grew shaggy, cascading down the back of my head as it reformed into feathers. My toes curled and hardened, five melting together into three talons. I felt the usual uncomfortable feeling of internal organs completely changing shape as my arms shrank into wings, first growing flat and thin and then sprouting feathers. It itched as feathers exploded from the rest of my reshaped body and I sprouted a tail, but the feeling of a beak suddenly protruding from my face distracted me. The last feature to change was my eyes, which had shrunk and the hue slowly changed from blue to golden. Morphing never works the same way twice. Unless you're Cassie, because even I noticed the way she seemed to be able to control what changed first. Opening my wings, I hopped off the ground and flapped hard, impressive wingspan aiding me in achieving lift-off. I circled above the barn impatiently.
<Tobias?> I called and before long I received a reply as a red-tailed hawk shot out from the boughs below me.
<Good grief- David?!> Tobias almost yelled. I continued to circle lazily, not wanting to scare him further.
<Sorry. I just needed to fly away, you know?> Sleep had mostly cleared my head, but there was nothing like soaring over buildings and fields to really rejuvenate you. Tobias flew up to join me, flapping harder than I had to in order to gain height.
<OK, but you could have warned me instead of circling up there like you were a real eagle about to take me out...> He grumpily replied before falling silent, probably not wanting to go any further and scare me off. I was probably being paranoid, but in my current state I was hyper-sensitive, trying to guess at everything I didn't understand myself. As the sun rose slowly, we began to find patches of warmer air and flew halfway across the city, cars like beetles scrabbling along roads and pedestrians like ants. I found myself thinking, despite the point of the activity being to just stop pondering anything at all.
Up until the moment when the voice completely derailed my life and somehow I was treated to my own personal hallucinations of the future, I had been a bratty kid who survived being the new kid all the time by acting tough and street-smart. When I got the power to morph, I took it and immediately used it for my own gain. Nothing wrong with that, especially as without a home and parents, I needed to survive and the morphing power gave me an edge on the usual homeless person. But everyone came down on me like a ton of bricks for it. Not that I cared for them that much anyway- none of them cared for me. It was more like they had no choice but to give me the chance to become any animal I wanted. That's why it was so tense- it was either that or let the Yeerks find out from my brain that they weren't Andalite bandits. There was no kind of emotional connection between us and the fact that they'd shared life-or-death experiences together made for the kind of bonds that I couldn't even try to replicate with them. And while that made me angry, it didn't bother me at all...until I saw what happened when I acted on my anger. Five against one...while it seemed like I had done well, I never stood a chance against such a well-balanced team.
Not that I was sure I even wanted to try anyway. Apart from the sequences when I'd been trapped as a rat, I saw everything in third-person, as if I was a witness. I saw another David, another me, bluster and almost give us away. I saw him, me, killing another animal in cold blood and smashing a hotel window without a care in the world. I still wasn't fussed about animals, but seeing my behaviour from another perspective started to make me think. And I was starting to think that I was a jerk. Of course, when something as fundamental as your perception of yourself gets completely torn apart, it's not easy adjusting. Now I was left in a frazzled state with these new, unfamiliar thoughts running through my mind. Thoughts like 'Maybe the others aren't so bad after all' and 'We should try to work together', or unwelcome ones about identity crises. 'If I came off as such a jerk already, why haven't they ditched me already?' or 'Wow. I kind of was a jerk. Did anyone really like me?' Out of frustration, I suddenly swooped into a dive, not even getting the remotest buzz as I hurtled through the air like I was on the fastest rollercoaster in existence. Adrenalin coursed through me and I only felt more determined, letting the golden eagle instincts make minute adjustments to my form to make the dive even faster and more efficient- a slight repositioning of a wing, changing the angle of descent. A skyscraper suddenly loomed before me and with my amazing eagle eyes, I could see my reflection in a distant window.
<David?> I heard Tobias' far-off voice. <What are you doing?> I didn't even look round as I reached maximum speed, hurtling towards the skyscraper. <What the heck-> I noticed him coming into view, the window showing a speck suddenly diving in unison with me. <David, you're going to smash into the window!> I could see figures inside the window. One of them came closer to the window, staring at me. I could see his expression-
<Yaaaaaaaah!> I cried out, letting the eagle's self-preservation and flying skill take over as I pulled up, feeling the extreme strain as the bird fought against gravity and momentum by opening its wings out to act as parachutes. I somehow changed direction, breastbone practically scraping against the window as the man jumped backwards in surprise. As my ascent slowed, momentum vanishing, I began to flap to stay in one spot and my wings ached terribly.
<What on earth did you think you were doing?> Tobias swooped down beside me and mimicked my movements.
<I...I don't know...> I sounded dazed, even to myself, and he sounded concerned.
<Was it the eagle instincts? Thought it saw something reflected off the window? When you killed the crow, I thought it was just...you, but...> He trailed off, clearly worried that I was being dominated by the eagle brain. I snapped out of the trance that I had been in during the dive, not fully understanding my own actions. I had initiated the dive and the golden eagle had merely taken care of the actual actions involved in zooming down towards the building. <Come on, we're drawing attention by hanging around in midair by this skyscraper. Let's go back, alright?> I didn't even reply. Tobias narrated a few of his experiences to me as we flew back towards the outskirts of the city. He'd let the hawk take over back when he was initially trapped in its body, explaining how it was like going to sleep and the hawk waking up. He'd done it as a form of escapism. I didn't want to talk to anyone anymore. I didn't even want to work out why I'd just gone crazy for a few minutes there. The eagle closed its eyes briefly as I tried it myself, letting all conscious thought fade.
The golden eagle suddenly sped up, flapping its wings faster and speeding from thermal to thermal.
<Whoa, slow down there!> The red-tailed hawk cautioned it, struggling to keep up. The eagle didn't react at all to the irrelevant noise. It didn't take too long for the eagle to return to its territory several fields over from the wooden structure. A red-tailed hawk followed it, landing on a branch parallel to it. The eagle fixed its piercing gaze on the smaller bird of prey. It had no interest in the raptor as it was not hungry, but it would not tolerate the raptor stealing any of its future kills or its territory. Opening its razor beak, it shrieked a warning. The red-tail backed away immediately. <...David? Earth to David? You in there?> The golden eagle fluffed itself up aggressively at the new sounds. <...Oh man.> The sounds ceased as the red-tailed hawk swooped down and landed on the ground. Had it spotted prey? As the golden eagle reared up, ready to attack, the red-tailed hawk did something unnatural. It began to grow suddenly, feathers fading into thick leathery skin. As it was halfway into the shape of a large grey creature, the eagle almost fell from its branch in shock.
<What-?! What's going on?> I came to with shock as a half-hawk, half-elephant assaulted my vision. The eagle brain was nonplussed, so I knew it was just psychological but I felt sick looking at the mess. <Tobias, do me a favour and demorph? No offense but you aren't the prettiest picture right now...> As the elephawk shrunk back, I felt better.
<Well, how else was I going to stop you from killing me, Mr. Golden Eagle? Your instincts were about to gut me like...well, a rabbit.> Tobias retorted and I would have winced if I wasn't a bird of prey. <And it's about time you demorphed too, we flew quite far.> I panicked immediately, fluttering down from the tree and focusing on myself with all my might. I wouldn't let them trap me, I wouldn't! As I shot upwards, almost hyperventilating, Tobias spoke to me again, sounding weirded out. <I'd better check that nobody saw my temporary lapse in sanity. Stay there...and don't do anything, OK?> I wasn't going to argue as Tobias took off and flew away. The feathers were the last part to go this time and I sat down on the ground, leaning against the tree and ignoring the wetness of the morning dew from the grass. What was I doing? My own stupidity had almost killed me in that stupid dive and Tobias when I let the eagle brain take over. But I was confused. I didn't know what to do anymore. I wasn't who I thought I was, and who I thought I was wasn't the type of person I liked. Add that to the pressure of having no home, no family, nobody to trust...and the alien invasion that meant that these problems weren't even important anymore...was I losing it? I couldn't explain why I suddenly aimed for the skyscraper, almost intent on crashing into it at top speed.
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(Tobias)<Ax! Ax!> I called urgently, flapping my wings and trying to hover over his scoop without moving too much.
<...Tobias? What is it? You sound as if you have an important problem to deal with.> The Andalite observed as he emerged from his scoop. He'd probably just got back from his morning ritual. I explained quickly, eager to get back to David and potentially stop him from doing anything else remotely insane.
<Long story short, I went flying with David earlier to try and get him to talk to me about things, but he went a bit crazy. First he tried to divebomb a building, then he got totally overwhelmed by his morph's instincts. I need to get back to him to ensure he doesn't do anything stupid.> Ax's stalk eyes twisted to watch me circling, my equivalent of frustratedly pacing up and down.
<I appreciate you warning me about his instability.> Ax commented, turning to re-enter his scoop.
<Wait, I was going to add that I needed a favour!> I called down and he paused, stalk eyes on me again. <Since David's kind of like us now, living out here, I was wondering whether you could help keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't go nuts again. Is it normal for someone to lose control of their morph when they get stressed?> Ax thought for a short while.
<Well, I believe there was never a reported case of anything similar happening among my people.> He mused thoughtfully, not sounding arrogant but merely certain. <However, a few...scientists claimed that in times of extreme stress, the morphing technology may malfunction due to the fact that a substantial amount of the technique depends on the concentration of the user. Stress could theoretically disrupt the concentration to such an extent that it would malfunction, though those scientists were unable to agree on exactly how it would disturb the technique.> He speculated, distate for the scientists he mentioned audible. It was probably the last vestiges of his Andalite arrogance showing through. Don't get me wrong, Ax is a good friend and after so long on Earth he's changed a lot, but he still possesses traces of his old arrogance. <However, the suggestion that our technology is perfect would not account for the effects on other species. It was never intended for humans to receive the morphing technology, so it is entirely possible that differences among species may mean that humans might encouter some trouble under certain circumstances.> I mentally siphoned through his stream of speech.
<So you're saying that because the technology was developed for Andalites and no other species, it's possible that it works slightly differently for humans and that stress could affect morphing?> Ax nodded, slightly offended.
<Did I not just say those exact words?> He questioned and I quickly agreed.
<Yeah, sorry Ax-man. I was just checking I understood.> I placated him. <Anyway, I'd better get back to David. See you later.> When I landed in a tree opposite the one David had been perching in prior to his demorph, his eyes opened. He had been leaning against it, eyes shut. I hadn't tried to mask my arrival. <It's all good. Nobody was around this early in the morning.> David nodded and got up.
"That's good. Sorry about earlier. I didn't sleep well...I think I was so tired that I kept just losing control. I'll be careful next time I morph." He apologised and got up. "There's still a few hours until the meeting, right?" I couldn't nod, being a red-tailed hawk and all. "I think I should go have a lie-down." I wasn't buying his excuse at all. We'd all morphed repeatedly on no sleep before and nothing like that had happened. Also, Jake had mentioned off-handedly that David had figured out how to morph clothes by himself. All in all, it sounded like David had a lot of natural talent at morphing so it was unlikely that he'd lose control to that extent. I waited until his retreating form vanished before picturing a fly in my mind. As I began to shrink, I prepared myself to interpret the shattered images that I would gain from my new compound eyes.
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(David)The dew that had soaked me while I sat in the grass had dried but I still felt cold. Climbing back up into the hayloft, I attempted to burrow under the scratchy material. Morphing had tired me out, especially after my night of poor sleep. I didn't think I'd be able to get back to sleep- I'd been lying to Tobias. Of course, what with being a bird of prey, he had no facial expressions so I had no idea whether he believed me. I closed my eyes, deciding that I didn't have to think about everything just now.
It had been...pleasant to stop thinking as I let the golden eagle take control, but I didn't want to end up like Tobias, trapped in morph. Somehow...I don't know how, he could still morph despite having the body of a red-tailed hawk. I wouldn't be so lucky. I needed to be able to morph so that I could get my parents back and so that if I got really sick of the four walls that surrounded me I could sneak out and do whatever I wanted. The "rules" or whatever it was that Jake had put into play really restricted what everyone could do. Like no morphing humans- how are you supposed to infiltrate somewhere if you can't just turn into someone who has the right to be there? But complaining would just stress me out more. I decided finally that I would work with the Anirmophs, but only to get my parents back. Then I'd find somewhere and we'd have to live in hiding until the whole thing ended, but we could do it. Maybe...maybe if I found the blue box, I could give the morphing ability to my parents and we could just stay on the run.
"David? Are you up there?" Cassie's voice startled me out of my thought- no, I hadn't been thinking at all. I grunted groggily in reply. I'd somehow fallen asleep despite all my inner turmoil. "I brought some food." She called up to the hayloft and I dragged myself from under the hay towards a ladder, climbing down and meeting her compassionate gaze. I wasn't hungry after everything, but the smell of the toast was starting to revive me and I took the slices of bread off of the plate she offered me, swiftly eating them. "How are you feeling today?" She asked delicately and I simply shot her a deadpan look. "I didn't think I'd get a straightforward answer." She commented wryly, offering me an apologetic smile for asking, even though I knew that she knew that I wouldn't answer. "The rest of us have school today, so we won't be around." She then reached into the pocket of the dungarees she was wearing and took my hand, placing a ten dollar bill in it and a handful of coins. I looked at her questioningly. "It's for lunch. I would offer you free run of our kitchen but my parents are home today. It will get claustrophobic, being stuck in this barn all the time, so why not go to the mall for lunch today? You could go with Tobias so you don't get bored alone. And you know Tobias and Ax live in the woods behind here, so don't hesitate to spend time with them if you get bored." I raised my eyebrows. She was basically saying the same things as Tobias. But I looked down at the money in my hands. I guessed it was her allowance. She didn't have to give me any money, so I thanked her. She smiled properly this time and left to get ready for school. I stifled a yawn and climbed back up into the hayloft, returning to my previous position, almost completely covered by hay so that if her parents entered the barn, I wouldn't be seen. As itchy as the hay was, it was slowly becoming a comfortable bedding for me.
I woke a couple of hours later to see a red-tailed hawk perching on a rafter above me.
"Good morning." I greeted Tobias. He didn't sound as stressed as earlier this morning when he replied.
<Afternoon, more like.> He sounded as if he'd be smirking if he had a human face. <Are you hungry?> I wondered whether he'd somehow conferred with Cassie about me and the subject of me receiving lunch money had come up. I didn't really care, but that kind of apathy is the kind that leads to sitting in the food court of a mall with a human opposite you whose default expression is blank and somewhat intimidating. It had been interesting ordering food with him. He'd struggled to decide on a drink and I had to handle the money for him. In the end he'd ordered several burgers. I'd just gone with the typical fries and burger meal. He took a drink from the can of Coke I'd ordered for him after taking pity on him. His face contorted slightly, involuntarily. Then he laughed self-deprecatingly, sounding as if he hadn't done so in a while.
"The sugar...honestly, any time I'm human, I feel like Ax. Walking around and pretending to be human, but I don't know how to do it any more." I didn't know what to say as he attacked his burger, not even bothering to eat the buns. I ate a few fries and couldn't help but remark snidely,
"Should've brought Ax along then, completed the crazy party. There's Mr. Hawk-boy, David the homeless guy who can turn into animals and then the alien in human form." Tobias stared at me and I wondered whether it was too soon for joking around, even though Marco did it on a regular basis. Then he snorted, face still set in its emotionless position.
"As fun as that might sound, it's not fun dealing with Ax like that. He tries to eat anything, and I mean anything! And because he doesn't have a mouth usually he'll play with sounds when speaking." Tobias explained and I tried to imagine the dignified and proud Andalite doing that and failed miserably. I smirked and Tobias seemed amused. He was doing a great job of keeping my mind off what would be happening later, as much as I hated to admit it. He'd told me on the way to the mall as we caught the thermals that there'd be a meeting about the mission to prevent some of the most important people in the world getting made into Controllers. Then we'd be heading off, going on the mission itself. I wasn't looking forward to either the danger or the meeting with everyone after I so nearly gave them all away to the Visser. I focused on my food and we ate in silence.
I figured that it'd be amusing to get some dessert and since there was some money left over, I bought two ice creams. I watched Tobias as I ate mine, feeling slightly cruel even though it was hilarious. At first he didn't know how to tackle it. Then it clicked- he stared intently at the ice cream in a cup and clumsily picked up the spoon before digging in. He winced repeatedly at the coldness of the food, accustomed to the still-warm prey he caught rather than ice cream. "It's stupid, I could probably handle the spoon better with talons." He remarked. I felt bad then, reminded that I was taking the hawk out of his comfort zone. We finished up and I decided I didn't want to return just yet.
"Can we do a bit of window shopping?" I asked and Tobias replied tonelessly,
"Wow, didn't have you down as another Rachel." He teased. I tried not to flinch as I tried to piece together my visions of her in the future. "I'll be right back, just going to the bathroom." He emphasised his words and I figured out that he was going to do a quick demorph and then remorph. While he was absent, I couldn't help but reflect on his joke. Rachel was brutal in the non-existent future, a real warrior. I'd taken some kind of sick joy in besting the Animorphs at their own game, relishing the strength of the lion and the sharpness of the golden eagle's claws. I got up and threw away wrappers and empty ice cream cups in order to do something else other than think.
Soon enough the blonde boy returned and we wandered around the mall, making small talk the entire time. When his time was running low, he suggested that we return to the barn and I reluctantly agreed. We headed out to the construction site as it was abandoned. As I watched Tobias demorph and felt feathers sprout from my body, I felt a sense of foreboding about what awaited me.
It seemed like the return journey took no time at all, and as I demorphed outside of the barn, Tobias hovered in the air above me.
"Aren't you going to go on in?" I asked, a mass of feathers and talons and human, my mouth and vocal cords already formed.
<Nah, just recovering from the flight.> The red-tailed hawk commented. I knew he was lying. He was probably going to go in after me, waiting for me to try and make me less nervous. I silently appreciated it and took a deep breath. I then opened the barn door and stepped in, holding it open for Tobias to fly through. He landed on a rafter as all the eyes in the room turned to me.
"...Hi." I offered lamely, fidgeting under their stares. Jake nodded.
"Welcome back." Then he cleared his throat and everyone turned to him. I felt relieved that there wouldn't be any discussion of last night. "OK, so there's no way we can infiltrate the meeting in the same way that we did last time. Visser Three will be expecting us. I thought about it a lot after we got back," This explained the dark shadows under his eyes, "And the only solution I came up with was, well, the kind of plan that Rachel would think of." Rachel raised her eyebrows.
"Should I find that insulting?" She remarked, challenging Jake to explain.
"Oh noooo. We're definitely gonna die." Marco moaned and Rachel punched him in the arm to shut him up. Jake continued as soon as Marco's grumbling quietened down.
"We smash our way in." He spoke just those five words clearly. There was uproar instantly as everyone started to argue over the plans. Cassie sidled up to me and spoke quietly while everyone was distracted,
"What do you think?"
"What do you mean, what do I think? I'm not the strategist here. I'm the rookie!" I automatically looked at her in disbelief. She seemed disappointed at the answer and I couldn't help raising my voice. "Even if I did have some more sophisticated ideas, who would listen? Remember, I'm a liability here!" I realised I was almost shouting when everyone turned to look at me again. "What?" I couldn't help but ask them defensively. "I know that none of you trust me. I just want my parents back, and that means working with you guys. Jake, you said that the Animorphs were my family now." I waited and sure enough, Jake didn't deny it.
"That's true." He answered and both Marco and Rachel frowned. Rachel's expression eased suddenly and I wondered if Tobias was talking to her, explaining that I hadn't gone crazy yet. Marco seemed unconvinced. What did I have to do to prove my worth here?
"Look, just explain the plan and tell me what you want me to do." I muttered, tired of the scrutiny. Jake then went on to explain his plan- we would sneak in by sea and then morph big. If we smashed up the place where the heads of state were staying and caused chaos, there was no way that the meeting could go ahead. It was insane (as Marco testified in a way that grated on my nerves) but who was I to complain? These guys had been Animorphs for a lot longer than me, they knew what they were doing. They hadn't been killed or caught yet so they must be doing something right. Yet I had the nagging feeling that there was something more that could be done...
"Wait." I spoke, more to myself than anyone else. I knew Jake at least was listening. Ignoring everyone, I began to talk out a plan. "When I was bluffing to Visser Three...when I told him who I am, that I was on the run with the blue box...what's to stop there from being more morphers? If I suddenly turn up, carry out a one-man guerilla attack...tell him that I still have the box and that I have an army. Say that there are quite a few morphers out there and he'll panic, expecting attacks from every angle. That could distract him, and if it really works out, then everyone else will be free to try out a more polished plan. Maybe even something that will permanently ruin his chances of infesting those particular heads of state..." Surprisingly, the Andalite was the first to comment.
<That is an interesting concept. However, time is most important and such a complex plan would need to be formulated rapidly or else we cannot carry it out.> Aximili then deferred to Jake, <But what is your opinion, Prince Jake?> I didn't understand why he referred to Jake as a prince. Probably something to do with his alien customs.
"I'm not sure. It...has potential. But the meeting is tomorrow. We need to act tonight otherwise it'll be a close-run thing. And don't call me Prince."
<Yes, Prince Jake.> I wasn't expecting him to warm to the idea.
"Of course it's just me thinking to myself. It's probably impossible." I quickly pointed out. Rachel seemed put out by the sudden lack of smashing things. Before I was aware of what I was doing, I added, "Of course for the whole 'army' thing to work we'll need decoys or distractions. I guess we could split up and cause trouble and then regroup somewhere else?" Immediately there was a glint of...something in Rachel's eyes, probably battle-lust and I fell silent again.
"This sounds way too complicated." Marco outright declared his opposition to the plan. I had kind of expected him to veto it.
<Well, I think it could work if we really thought about it.> Tobias chipped in. Marco didn't look impressed. Cassie intervened before he could say anything.
"Can you elaborate on your thoughts?" Of course, she would want to prevent any conflict between me and him. I tried my best to go into further detail and after a drawn-out and tiring discussion, there were entire sketches laid out over the ground on paper Cassie had borrowed from her house. Jake finished explaining our roles after a lot of conversation and finally turned to me.
"You understand what you have to do?" I nodded. "Good. Rachel will be going with you." My mouth fell open in shock. Rachel, the fiercest of the group, who had threatened my parents? Forgetting that this hadn't technically happened, I immediately protested.
"What? Can't Tobias go with me instead? Or even you?" I pleaded but Jake was unmoved.
"Your part of the plan is the most dangerous. Rachel has lots of firepower with her morphs and you should be able to work as a good team." Rachel eyed me significantly and I knew I was in for a bumpy ride. With my insides churning, I nodded and accepted his judgement.
