I sighed at last, looking over at Jake. I wanted to say something to him. I wanted to tell him it'd be OK and that cousin Rachel would help him get Tom back. I wanted to let him know that if he ever needed to talk...I bit my tongue. I was never great at dealing with emotional people. It was a talent my best friend had. I hoped that if he was ever feeling that bad, he'd go to Cassie. I knew they were at least acquainted, what with me being the mutual friend. In the end, I gave him a significant look and then made my farewell silently, nodding to everyone as I hid behind a sand dune.
It took more effort than before to summon up the image of the seagull in my imagination. I tried to concentrate but my morphing still felt sluggish. My focusing powers were shot. I ran along the sand and took off clumsily, gliding through the evening air. My sight wasn't so good now it was getting dark and it was harder to keep flying through the air without patches of warmth to heat the air. The journey home was pretty quick and I somehow remembered to grab my clothes from the shed in the garden, quickly putting them on before returning through the front door.
"Ah, there you are. It's getting late." My mom raised an eyebrow as I passed through. I tried to smile, knowing I couldn't fake it. But she took it for an embarrassed smile instead of a fake one.
"Yeah, sorry. Mom...I just suck at math." Her expression eased. "I guess I'm lucky that cousin Jake actually gets it."
"So you managed to get your work done after all?" I nodded, not even feeling guilty for lying.
"Yeah, we talked through the method, I just have to go write it all down." Then I remembered the plan tomorrow and tried to ignore the sudden foreboding feeling as I threw out another painfully fake smile. "Oh, that reminds me, while we were studying Cassie called Jake. Turns out she wanted to go to the Gardens tomorrow and she kind of invited me along." I clarified as my mom looked at me, "Jake knows I'm Cassie's best friend so he asked if I could go too. Apparently tomorrow there's a discount or something, some kind of event. She said lots of people from school were going..." I tried not to be too specific as the reality of earlier crept in. Tom was a Controller. Who says my mom wasn't one? As she smiled back at me, I tried not to imagine a slug in her brain.
"Well, you've finished your homework, right? So I don't see why not. I just wish Jordan was as responsible as you about homework and free time." I couldn't help but snort, amused. My sister was a bit lazy when it came down to it. "So what time tomorrow is this happening?" I thought about it, really thought about what we would be doing tomorrow.
"Ah, well, I'm meeting at 3pm, but Cassie said something about...what was it? Oh yeah, the sale. Basically there's a sale because there are some special events on and a party. Kind of like Disneyland when they have the firework shows in the evening? Something about an anniversary...maybe it was of when the Gardens opened? I forget exactly..." I was rambling. Rambling was the sign of someone who didn't know when to stop lying.
"Right..." My mom stared at me. "So you're saying you want to go to the party without actually asking?" I grinned. "I am a lawyer you know, I know exactly what you're not saying too." She grinned back sneakily. "Just be back by nine. You have school tomorrow." I rolled my eyes, groaning.
"That's so uncool, Mom. Cassie gets to stay later, even Jake gets to stay out until half ten!"
"Nine." Mom shook her head and I immediately countered,
"Half ten!"
"Ten." She was probably wondering if I'd suddenly push for a later curfew. I nodded gratefully, hoping beyond hope that whatever we were up to tomorrow, it wouldn't take seven whole hours.
"Thanks, Mom, and I promise I won't be grouchy in the morning!" She laughed at that.
"Rachel, when are you not grouchy in the morning?" I nodded, amused. I'd actually been joking around with her so it didn't count as lying, right? "Alright, off to bed with you!" I wished her a good night and crept upstairs quietly not to wake my sisters. I entered my room and quickly got ready for bed, intending to be well-rested for tomorrow.
I couldn't sleep. I laid there in the dark and the thoughts I'd managed to shut out came back. About the Yeerks. About Tom. About me turning into a dog and a seagull and an eagle. It was hard to believe. I still was finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that I could do anything I wanted, turn into any animal I wanted. And...I had to do it to save Tom, to fight aliens...and somehow, I don't know how, my thoughts wandered to the subject of Tobias. I was thinking about how cool it was to be able to soar above people and houses, how free I was...I guess I was focusing on the positives to block out the negatives, the thoughts of Tom and Yeerks. But then I thought of someone who had chosen to become a bird permanently. I felt sick. How would he survive? Would he have to live in the wild? I barely knew Tobias, but I remembered vaguely Jake mentioning him. Whatever Jake must have said, it gave me the feeling that Tobias wasn't a tough kid. And in the wild, it was tough. Survival of the fittest or something, according to science class.
He had got trapped so quickly. He'd just let the minutes tick by...and I didn't understand why nobody else reacted so strongly...why they'd let him- no, I was getting angry at the wrong people. Jake had been under so much pressure, Ax had been trying to reason with him. And of course Cassie must have had faith because usually she'd know how to talk people down from stupid things. And Marco and Sam weren't around at the time... I hoped Sam was OK with everything considering that he couldn't morph so he was pretty much excluded from some stuff. Then I felt stupid for my thoughts dwelling on Sam a second longer than I would have dwelled on Marco. And then I returned to my thoughts about how I'd gotten angry at Tobias. Had I done the wrong thing? He'd just flown off. He could vanish and never come back with his freedom and wings...had I driven him away? I had been pretty mad...and thinking back on it, I hadn't realised exactly how angry I'd been. It took me by surprise right now. Maybe I should watch my temper. Feeling guilty, still slightly angry, worried, I somehow fell asleep.
