I almost had a heart attack as a voice suddenly spoke to me. Realising it was in my head, I looked up, squinting against the setting sun and noticing a shadow soaring through the air. Tobias had arrived. I guess it made sense for him to fly if he lived far from school and I realised guiltily, probably not for the first time, how little I knew about him, his life, anything really. From the very few memories I had of him before we were thrown together in our new group, I remembered a quiet boy who seemed to be alone when I saw him. It was Jake who probably knew more because I could remember the odd moments when I saw Tobias with Jake. I think my cousin had made some kind of throwaway comment about bullies when I asked him once, but my memories were hazy.
I reflected on the recent events surrounding being trapped in morph. When I was in the head of a German shepherd, the only thing that mattered was fun or at least being happy. When I was sharing a mind with a seagull, food was the important thing. The time limit just didn't seem real, especially when I remembered I had literally turned into an animal... when I was bounding along the sand and not even feeling tired, when I caught a patch of hot air that sent me spiralling upwards. Yet seeing Tobias perching before me, more hawk than human, really forced me to think about the time limit. Made it feel much more real. A very real danger. I was thankful, really thankful that Aximili seemed to instinctively know what time it was or how long we'd been morphed. I just hoped that it wouldn't happen to Tobias. I was worried enough about him right now and I felt like if he had any emotional experiences or problems, nothing would stop him getting trapped. And I didn't want that. Partly because the thought scared me, partly because I didn't know how he could live forever as a bird of prey. I looked upwards again, trying to find his red-tailed form.
