ANIMORPHS

The Hunt

.

CHAPTER 1

Tobias

My name is Tobias.

Just Tobias. No last name. No middle initial. Not that I need one anymore. I haven't used my last name in a long time.

The other Animorphs can't tell you where they live, but I can. I live in a meadow out in the forest. A lot of animals live there, including mice, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and bobcats. But there are no red-tailed hawks.

Except me.

I've been living here for what seems like a long time. I know it hasn't really been that long, but it feels that way sometimes.

Wondering why I'm a bird, not a human? Long story. Wondering how I got this way? Longer story.

Here's the short version:

Earth is being invaded.

Right here. Right now. All over the planet.

You're probably wondering why you've never heard anything about this, right? Well, that's because you wouldn't know about it unless they'd already taken you.

They're called Yeerks. They don't look very threatening. Just gray slugs, about the size of rats. You could crush one under your foot and it wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. But that's just in their natural state.

The Yeerks are a parasite species. Like tapeworms, I guess. Only they don't infest your stomach. They enter your brain, tie into your nervous system, and take complete control of your body. The Yeerk controls your every action. And there's nothing you can do about it.

Well, there is one thing. You can watch helplessly as the Yeerk reads your memories and turns you into a helpless slave to help them conquer planet Earth.

So what does this have to do with me being a bird? Well, fortunately, humans aren't alone in this. There's another species fighting the Yeerks. The Andalites. A few months ago, a dying Andalite prince named Elfangor crashed on the surface of Earth and gave me and four other human teenagers a weapon to help us fight the Yeerks. The power to morph. A power that can be both a blessing and a curse. Just ask me.

See, the morphing power has a downside: If you stay in morph for more than two hours, you stay forever.

Like me. I got trapped inside the body of a red-tailed hawk. It's not so bad, actually. I still have my friends, and I can still fight the Yeerks. I even got my morphing power back eventually. I can even morph into my old human body. There's a catch, though. If I stay human for too long, I'd get stuck there. And I wouldn't be able to fight any more.

So, whether I like it or not, I'm stuck like this.

I was sitting on a branch, overlooking the meadow. My meadow, actually. I was watching the grass of the field, waiting to see if anything moved underneath, which would show me the location of prey on the ground below them.

Sure enough, after I'd been sitting there for a few minutes, the grass started twitching in one particular area. I watched for a minute, to make sure that there was actually something there and then a little longer to make sure that whatever was under there had no idea I was there, and then unfolded my wings and jumped off the branch.

I saw that my prey was a mouse right before I snatched it up in my talons.

Well, for me, that's lunch. As a human, before I met Elfangor and got this power, I would have been nauseated by this. But, over time, I've gotten used to it. I tell myself sometimes that it's simple; the human must feed the hawk. It has to happen.

After I finished eating the mouse, I unfolded my wings, jumped off the branch, flapped, and rose into the air. I changed course and flew towards the school that my friends attended. I was going to check up on them. Well, Jake, Rachel, Marco and Cassie, anyway. Ax didn't go to school here. Ax didn't go to school anywhere. He lives in the woods, like me, so I see him more often.

Right about then was when something weird happened.

I was flying over the street in front of the school. I was about two hundred feet up, but I could see every detail of what was going on down on the ground. Hawks have amazing vision. If I was at home plate and someone opened a book in right field, I'd be able to read it. That was why what I saw next just didn't make sense.

I saw a girl walking out of the trees toward school. Now, what was odd at first was that it looked like she'd been coming from the direction of the woods. But then I noticed something really strange.

Hawk eyes don't get fooled very often, so what they see is usually what's actually there. Which was why I stared, incredulous, when what looked an awful lot like a white-furred tail slipped down from under her jacket.

As soon as I saw this, she hurriedly reached back and stuffed the "tail" back under the waistband of her worn-out jeans. Then she turned around and kept walking towards school.

That had been weird. But as I flew over towards the other buildings, I tried to put it out of my mind. I mean, come on. No human had a tail. It was probably one of those gag tails that you buy at costume stores. She was probably going to pull it out at lunch or something to get a few laughs.

Nothing to worry about.