Prisons
By: Forlay
Chapter One
Ahead of her, she heard voices, very faint, but she expected that, she always did. She slowed to a stop and cocked her head slightly to try and tell where the voices came from. The voices sounded odd to her, she couldn't quite place why, but they sounded...different, that was all she could think of to describe it. She began walking again, slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible.
I think there's a clearing here where we can demorph. >
Yeah, I see it. >
Kathryn heard a faint rustling, like several birds landing at once, then an awful sound. Grinding and crunching, it sent a chill through her spine. She put her hands over her ears to try and block out the sound. Perhaps she didn't want to talk to whoever these people were. Unfortunately, even with her hands over her ears, she could still hear parts of their conversation.
I know it was bad, but we'll have to try again. >
A long pause.
We can not attack constantly, as often as we have been, Rachel. We must rest occasionally. No warrior is at his best when he is tired. >
Warrior? That got Kathryn's attention. She lifted her hands off her ears, she could hear the whole conversation now.
"I don't really care, Ax. We obviously don't have much time left, I want to inflict as much damage as I possibly can in the time we do have." That was the voice of a girl, a very angry girl, it sounded like a normal voice. Perhaps the distance had just distorted the voices before.
"Rachel, we aren't invincible!" Another normal sounding voice, this one was a guy's. "You're the one who loves to remind me of that. We aren't super heroes, we have faults just like every other human being. We can't save the world if we're working ourselves to death."
I hate to say it, Rachel, but Marco has a point. > That was it! One of the weird sounding voices! But why would only a few of the voices sound weird? She could hear every word, clearly, so it wasn't distance this time. Strange.
Kathryn decided that these people wouldn't be the ones who could help her. She didn't even want to try. First the weird voices, then the noises, too much for her. She put her hands out in front of her, ready to stumble her way through the perpetually dark forest again, when her foot stepped on a twig. It snapped loudly.
Kathryn heard nothing but silence from the small clearing the voices had come from. There was a flurry of activity, and suddenly Kathryn found herself pressed up against a tree with something sharp and cool pressed against her throat.
Chapter Two
"I-I'm Kathryn. Who are you?"
She's obviously not a Controller, Rachel. She does not know what I am. > It was another one of those strange voices.
"Who are you? Why do you talk to funny?"
"What do you mean?" the girl asked.
"Whoever just talked...he, she or it sounded strange. I can't place why it sounds strange, it just does."
There was a pause. Kathryn heard the girl taking deep, even breaths, as if she were trying to calm herself down. "Okay, hon, I'm sorry if we scared you. But--"
"Don't patronize me," Kathryn interrupted. "I'm not a child."
"I'm sorry," the girl said, and she sounded genuinely sorry. "I can't explain the story to you now, but you can't tell anyone what you've seen or heard here tonight. Not a soul."
Kathryn felt like laughing in the girl's face. What she'd seen? How the heck would she do that?
Rachel...have you looked closely at the girl's eyes? > It was the other strange voice.
"Hey, I am here, you know. I'm not invisible."
"Wait, you heard that?"
"Duh. It's one of those strange voices."
Another pause from the girl. "Okay, Ax, you stay here for a second with her. Tobias, come with me a moment." Kathryn heard their footsteps as they walked a few steps away. Far enough that Kathryn couldn't hear what the girl was saying, but the strange voice came through loud and clear.
I mean did you see her eyes? They didn't focus on anything, they didn't follow when one of us moved...she hasn't seen a thing. She's blind. >
A pause, like the owner of the strange voice was listening to the girl.
I don't think we have anything to worry about from her. The Yeerks would never take her. >
Another pause.
Taylor was different. Taylor had connections to people in high places. > Pause. Do you think the daughter of important people would be wandering around in the middle of nowhere? >
This was getting frustrating. Why couldn't she hear the girl while she could hear the strange voice clearly, clearer than she had hear any voice in her life. "Hey!" Kathryn called. "I know you're talking about me, why don't you include me in your conversation, perhaps I could help answer your questions."
Kathryn heard the crunching of footsteps and sensed that several bodies were in front of her. "Who are you?" the guy asked.
"I could ask you the same thing!"
"We're the one's with the power here. You answer first."
"I already told you. My name's Kathryn."
"Let me handle this," the girl said. Kathryn thought she was talking to the boy, but of course, she couldn't be sure. "Yes, we know your name is Kathryn," the girl said, "But that doesn't tell us a lot. Why the heck are you wandering around in the woods, at night and alone?"
"I lost the path."
"So you tried to find your way through the woods on your own?"
"What else was I to do?"
"Duh, stay where you are and wait for someone to find you!" the guy said.
"Don't patronize me," Kathryn said again, "I know that. I've been told that ever since I could walk, but it's a bit harder for me, I had no idea I'd lost the path until I realized I didn't have a guide anymore."
"Guide?" the guy asked.
"Duh," Kathryn mocked, "As your friend with the weird voice here so astutely pointed out, I'm blind, genius."
"Then how come you were out in the woods without anyone else in the first place?"
"Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I'm an invalid. The camp...somewhere around here, has special accommodations for blind people, including a path that's supposed to be completely marked with rope the entire way. Apparently the rope broke or something earlier, because I ended up off the path, and running into you guys."
"You keep talking about hearing strange voices," the girl said, taking over again. She sounded much calmer than the guy, although Kathryn detected a bit of patronizing in her voice, like she thought she knew so much more than a little blind girl did. "What do you mean?"
"How dense do you people think I am?! There are two of you, now, who speak in voices that...I don't know how to describe them. Echoey? Resonating? Definitely not your regular voice, believe me, I know, I've spent my entire life learning to know people by their voice." Kathryn was surprising herself with each outburst. She was normally quiet and reserved, but these people, whoever they were, were making her mad, being their high and mighty, condescending selves. She couldn't stand people like that.
"You aren't supposed to be able to hear that."
"Well too bad. I did."
A pause. "Stay right here. Ax, stay with her." Kathryn figured that whoever 'Ax' was, he was the one with the sharp object, because it was still pressed to her throat. Perhaps it was a real ax and 'Ax' was this psychotic's nick name?
"Whatever you're holding to my throat, you can put it down," Kathryn said to her captor, "I'm not gonna run away." There was no answer. "Ah, the silent treatment. Okay, I can deal with that." She moved carefully, easing her legs a little bit away from the tree so she was leaning against it instead of standing stiff by it. Hopefully, she looked to whoever these people were like she didn't care, like it was normal to be held captive in the woods by weird people, but the truth was, inside, she was shaking.
And she could still hear the damned voice of the other strange talking person. Not the voices of the girl and the guy, just the strange one.
Tell her about us? No way. I don't care if we need new people, we can't trust her. >
Kathryn imagined she was in on the conversation and answered silently to herself Yes, you can.
We aren't obligated to tell her anything! One of you leads her back to wherever she can find her trail again and we... > You what? Scare me into not talking?
Anything to protect ourselves. I can't believe I'm even having this argument with you two! Yes, we've lost two people, I know that, but we don't take people in to help us, I thought we'd established that way back with
David! > Lost two people? How?
How should I know how she can hear me and Ax when we're talking in private thought speak? Maybe a side effect of her blindness? > What the...?
You know, blind people usually have heightened senses, like hearing and touch and stuff. Maybe she's sensitive to thought speak? > Okay, I'm lost now.
Hey, you wanted my imput. > Yeah, and now do we have any sane suggestions? Ones that make sense?
Fine, tell her, I don't care, but I'm not going to be her baby sitter. > And who said I needed one?
Now the sound of leaves and twigs being snapped by human feet as the group walked back to her. Either one of them was really light, or Kathryn's hearing needed to be checked, because she only heard two sets of foot steps, yet three people had gone off for the 'conference'.
"Kathryn?" the girl said to her, she seemed to be the leader of this group. "We've got alot to talk to you about."
Chapter Three
"One of us is insane. Either the four of you, or just me. Probably me. Your story doesn't make any sense! Fighting alien slugs that take over people? Turning into animals? Talking with thoughts that only you should be able to hear?"
"But it's all true," the girl, Rachel, said. "Those disgusting sounds you said you heard earlier? That was the sound of us morphing. Tobias' voice sounds strange to you because he's forever stuck in the body of a hawk. Ax sounds the same because his people don't have mouths to talk with."
Do you need proof, Kathryn? > Ax asked. He was the one who'd been holding the sharp object to her throat earlier. The story was that the object was a sharp, scythe like blade on the end of his tail.
"It'd be nice, but I don't see how you can give it to me."
You can still feel, correct? Use one of your hands, you can feel that I'm not human, that I'm unlike anything from your planet. >
"Yeah, right," Kathryn said scornfully, but she noticed she couldn't keep some of the fear out of her voice. These people were truly scaring her now. They were probably ax murderers and were changing their voices with voice changers.
Kathryn felt a hand on her arm and jumped, she wasn't used to being touched suddenly. "Chill, it's just me," Rachel said gently. "Here, I'll take you to Ax."
Kathryn yanked her arm away. "Don't touch me."
"Okay, okay, sorry," Rachel said, "Just trying to help."
"Nobody touches me without asking first. I don't always need help."
"All right, I can do that. Kathryn, would you like help getting to Ax?"
Kathryn wanted to refuse, Rachel was still patronizing. But she also knew that she had no idea where Ax was. His 'thought speak' didn't carry the way a voice did, she couldn't use it to direct herself. "Fine." She stood up and held out her arm so she could be guided. Rachel gently took it and led Kathryn a few steps away. She set her hand down on something made of course hair, like a horse. Kathryn took her arm away, startled. "What the...?"
"Ax has fur, on most of his body, anyway. As we said, the closest analogy we can come up with for you is that that part of his body is that of a horse, complete with fur, then he has a human type torso, a mouthless face, two extra eyes on stalks and, of course, the infamous scorpion like tail. Now go on, he won't hurt you."
Kathryn wanted to scream if Rachel said one more patronizing thing to her. She could feel the anger well up in her, and it startled her a bit. The strongest emotion she tended to feel was frustration at not being able to do something right because of her handicap, yet tonight she was getting the full range of bad emotions, from scared to rage. But she just put her hand back down on Ax's back and ran her hand lightly over his body, from his shoulders to his tail, not stopping until she felt the sharpness of the tail blade. "Oh, my God..." she murmured. "He's really an...a..."
"Alien," Marco, the only guy who spoke normally, supplied.
Kathryn turned around to face at least Marco, and hopefully Tobias, "Meaning that Tobias really is a hawk?"
Yes, I really am. Most of the time. > Kathryn detected a twinge of bitterness in his 'voice'.
"What's it like?" Kathryn asked softly.
Tobias' voice seemed lighter this time. It's the most amazing feeling in the world. >
"Now we have a proposition for you, Kathryn," Rachel said after both she and Kathryn had sat back down. "Normally, we're distrustful of strangers, I'm sure you can understand why, but we do need help. We've already lost two people, and there's strength in numbers so...we were wondering if you'd like to become an Animorph."
Kathryn sat silently for a moment. An Animorph. Not only would she be fighting for perhaps the noblest cause to ever have existed...but she'd be able to take on the form of any animal she touched. From a lithe dolphin in the sea...to a hawk soaring through the air.
"It's the opportunity of a life time," she finally said quietly. "Of course I will. I'd be honored to become an Animorph."
There were a few nervous giggles from the three more-or-less human Animorphs, as if Kathryn's answer had just lifted a terrible burden from their shoulders. Marco reached out and took Kathryn's hand. "Welcome to the Animorphs, Kathryn."
Chapter Four
"You know, doing this super hero gig takes up alot of time, a lot of sneaking out at night and stuff. Will you be able to avoid getting in trouble with your parents?" Marco asked.
Kathryn snorted. "Of course I will. Trust me, my parents probably don't even know I'm gone right now. Having a disabled child seriously impeded on their social life, especially when the child is the younger sister of two perfect children."
"Ouch. Sounds rough."
"You have no idea. My parents had the perfect all-American family before I came along. My brother, who's a Junior in college now, is off playing football for his college team, and is rumored to be of interest to a couple pro teams. And of course, all through high school and college, he was practically a straight 'A' student. And my sister, who's a college Freshmen, was Valedictorian of her high school class, and an actor. And they all have always been serious about outdoor activities. Before I was born, they went camping and skiing and boating all the time. It was a gift from heaven to find this camp that had facilities for blind people so I could go off and 'amuse' myself while they had all the fun."
"Yeesh. Sorry I asked."
Kathryn shook her head, "I'm sorry I unloaded all that on you, it wasn't fair of me, you didn't ask to know my life story."
"Perhaps it's better that I do. The big danger about bringing a new person into the group is that no one ever knows how he, or she, is going to react under stress. While we still don't know how you're going to react, perhaps we'll have an insight on why you react a certain way."
"Is that why your other new Animorph experiment was a failure?"
"There were alot of factors in that one," Marco said, his voice bitter, "Way too many to go into right now, so don't even ask."
The pair walked in silence for a few minutes before Kathryn said, "You guys mentioned that you had lost two before, but you never said who they were, or how they were lost...could you tell me what happened?"
Marco didn't answer for a moment, Kathryn was afraid he was going to give her the cold shoulder on that subject, but he finally answered. "They were Jake and Cassie. Jake was the leader of our group. He was Rachel's cousin, my best friend, Ax's 'prince'," that got a slight chuckle out of him. "He was the glue that held our group together, through good times and bad. He was also Cassie's boyfriend, which is why they're both gone, and they went together. We were doing one of our typical suicide missions, we were attacking some tiny Yeerk outpost, I don't even remember why we were attacking that particular one anymore, the battles have all blurred together," he laughed ruefully. "I haven't even graduated from high school, yet I have battle fatigue.
"Anyway, this particular mission didn't go any where's near as well as we'd planned it. Apparently our information was out of date, or something of the like, maybe one of us just made a human mistake. We'll never know, I guess.
"But no matter the cause, Cassie was left back in the raging inferno we'd created. We could hear her thought speak screams behind us as we tried to put as much distance between us and the fire as possible." Marco's voice was hollow now, Kathryn noted. "But Jake, despite the times he'd ordered that one of us was left behind when it seemed we were lost, decided he had to go back for Cassie. God, once he wouldn't even go back for me and Rachel when we were almost caught! Jake had the makings of a great leader, right down to the hypocrisy thing, or so Rachel confided in me once, in one of her rare weak moments. Jake went back for Cassie, I think he made it back into the building. I hope he did. I hope he and Cassie found eachother one last time. But then there was another explosion, they must have been housing explosive, or at least gas or oil, in the building. Whatever was left of the building was blown sky high, and everyone in it went along for the ride." Kathryn could tell Marco was fighting back his tears by this point. Much to her surprise, Kathryn found she was, too. She'd never even known these people, yet she was crying for them. Perhaps because she could now see how easily death could come to her. Despite her disability and her crappy home life, she had no wish to die. She briefly considered backing out, but that really wasn't an option. Not only would she be backing out on the human race, dooming them anyways, but she'd be backing out on the memory of two of the most courageous people Kathryn had ever heard of. More courageous than any general or soldier in any way that had ever been fought on Earth, because the two Animorphs who had already lost their life to their cause were kids. And somehow, in Kathryn's mind, that made them braver than any adult could ever be.
"Hey, I think we're back at your path," Marco announced suddenly. Kathryn reached out a hand and felt the course rope that marked the path. Just to be sure, she let go of Marco, ducked under the rope, and walked to the other side of the path. Yes, there was rope there, too, spaced the right distance apart for the path.
"Yeah, this is it, Marco. Now could you do me one last favor and tell me which way to go towards the camp?
"Well, there's light coming from your right and it just gets darker to your left, so I'd assume the right way to the camp would be to go to the right."
"Okay, thanks, Marco. See you tomorrow at eleven."
"See you." Kathryn heard the sound of bones and organs shifting and melting as Marco morphed something to leave quickly as Kathryn jogged as fast as she dared down the well worn path towards camp.
Chapter Five
"On a walk," Kathryn mumbled. She found her sleeping bag on the floor and crawled under it without bothering to change. Anything to get away from her mother.
"'On a walk'? That's it? You were 'on a walk'? I really can't believe you sometimes, Kathryn. Your father and I work hard to get you everything you want and need, and then we find this wonderful campsite so the three of us can have some quality bonding time, without your brother or sister, and you spend half the night out in the woods, alone, on a walk! Do you know what could have happened to you out in the woods? A girl alone at night?"
"But nothing happened, Mom, so can I just go to sleep?"
But Kathryn's mother continued her rant. "You could have been killed, that's what could have happened! Killed or kidnapped or God only knows what else! How many times...." Kathryn didn't hear anymore, she'd fallen asleep.
Despite the previous night's events, Kathryn was up early, just shortly after dawn, before anyone else in her family, and most of the camp, was up. Careful not to wake her parents, she opened her suitcase and found a T-shirt, shorts and her swimsuit to wear for the day. Rachel had told her the night before to be sure to wear something skin tight, since it was impossible to morph larger clothing. Kathryn quickly dressed, then searched the cooler for her breakfast.
Eleven o'clock couldn't come fast enough for Kathryn. At a quarter to, she told her parents she was going off to meet some friends she had met last night. Happy to know their daughter was beginning to get some semblance of a social life, her parents didn't argue, and Kathryn jogged down the path, using the rope as her guide.
Rachel was the only one at the appointed meeting place when Kathryn arrived.
"I thought Marco was going to show everyone here," Kathryn said.
"I followed by air last night so I could get here on my own," Rachel said. "I wanted to talk to you without the others here."
"About what?"
"I realized I was awfully condescending last night, which isn't like me at all, usually. It's just that, it was a bad night last night, I was kind of stressed, and you're about the age of my younger sister, so my 'big sister' instincts kind of kicked in. I figured you'd probably be harboring some bitter feelings over that, and we can't work together as a team if the only two girls left are at each other's throats constantly. So, friends?"
"Definitely." The three guys showed up then. After greetings were said, Kathryn heard the sound of fabric rustling, perhaps a backpack.
"Okay, I've got the cube," Marco said. Kathryn heard Marco give it to someone else and Ax's hooves clopping softly on the packed dirt as he stepped forward.
Kathryn, place one hand upon a side of the cube, > Ax instructed. Kathryn tentatively reached her hand out, searching for the cube. When her fingers brushed against the cool, hard side she pressed her hand firmly against it. A moment later she felt a shock through her body, almost as if she'd been electrocuted, but it didn't exactly hurt. She shook her hand to get rid of the tingling sensation.
"Okay, it's going to be a pain in the neck to do this, but we're going to have to walk and take a bus to...to the Gardens. Or take a bus," Rachel said.
Why don't Ax and I watch from the air? > Tobias suggested. Save on bus fare and admission cost, and we don't have to worry about time limits, or Ax snacking on cigarette butts. >
"Cigarette butts?" Kathryn asked.
"Long story there," Marco said, "But Tobias' idea sounds good to me. Let's go. Kathryn, would you allow me the honor of being your escort?"
Kathryn laughed, "Of course." She held out her arm and Marco gently took it and the trio began to walk through the woods, while Tobias and Ax watched from above.
Chapter Six
"I don't know...what do you guys suggest?"
"To start, you'll need a bird of prey and a battle morph," Marco said, "And then we'll get you a dolphin, just so we've got all the bases covered."
"So I can pick any bird I want and any animal I want?"
"If we can get to it, I certainly don't want to become kitty food."
"Well, for a bird...do they have owls?"
"Yeah, and we should be able to get that," Rachel said. "Battle morph?"
"Are there tigers here?"
"Tigers?" Marco asked. Kathryn heard a waver in his voice.
"Yeah...is something wrong with having a tiger?"
"Um, no, no, of course not," Marco lied rather unconvincingly. "But, Rachel, why don't you take Kathryn into the tiger habitat?"
Kathryn expected Rachel to make some smart comment, but just said yes instead. Rachel and Marco led the way to the tiger habitat.
"Okay, there's a step here," Rachel cautioned as she helped Kathryn into the hallway behind the exhibits. "Marco, you stay on the lookout for guards, we'll go find the tigers."
"No problem," Marco said. Kathryn heard his footsteps slow as he dropped behind.
"Okay," Rachel said. To Kathryn's ears, she didn't sound very confident about what they were about to do. "Okay," she repeated, "I have absolutely no idea where the tigers are going to be when we go in. If there's one waiting for us, we're not going to have time to loose, so I may have to just grab your arm and thrust it towards the tiger, I apologize in advance for that but it's the only way we'll be able to get out of this alive. Now, when you touch the tiger, it should go into a sort of trance. That'll last for about ten seconds and then the animal wakes up again, and often times it's not in a good mood afterwards, so you have to acquire and run. You remember how to acquire, right?"
"Yeah but...."
"But what?"
"How do I know when I've acquired the tiger?"
"I don't really know," Rachel admitted. "You just somehow do. You touch the animal, concentrate on it, and you acquire it's DNA. And then, when you're dealing with animals like tigers, you get your butt out of there. All right?"
"Gotcha."
Rachel stopped walking then. "Okay, we're here. Stay close, okay?" Kathryn nodded and listened closely, futilely hoping she'd be able to hear the cats from behind the door. She couldn't, of course, even with their great size, the tigers wouldn't be heard unless they wanted to be heard.
Kathryn heard a click and a squeak as Rachel opened the door. "Okay, I see...well, I think I see a tiger hiding in some bushes just a couple yards in front of us. Give me your hand," Kathryn held out her hand for Rachel to take. "Need I say walk quietly?" Kathryn shook her head. "Then let's go."
Kathryn counted her steps as she and Rachel walked slowly into the tiger habitat, estimating how many steps it'd take her running to get back out the door without running into the wall opposite the tiger habitat. She knew Rachel was there to help her, but she wanted to remain as self sufficient as possible. She wasn't going to be a burden to the Animorphs.
Rachel stopped suddenly and Kathryn did so, too. "Take just a few steps forward," Rachel instructed in a whisper, "And reach a hand out. I'll guide you so you don't end up sticking your hand in his mouth or something."
Kathryn giggled nervously. Not because Rachel's attempt at humor was funny, but because it was such a bad time for a joke, and seemingly out of character for Rachel. But Kathryn followed Rachel's instructions and soon felt her hand on the tiger's back, rising and falling slowly as the cat breathed.
"Now concentrate," Rachel reminded her needlessly. Kathryn formed a mental image in her head of how tigers and been described to her, and what the raised drawings had felt like in her books when she was younger. Long body, powerful jaws and claws. The striped fur...a magnificent animal.
Like Rachel said, Kathryn somehow 'knew' when she had finished acquiring the animal's DNA. She grabbed Rachel's arm and the two ran quickly out of the habitat, slamming the door closed behind them.
"Well," Rachel said, "That wasn't too hard, was it?"
Kathryn laughed, "Oh, no, not at all. Where to next?"
"We find Marco then find where they keep the owls in the place. Hopefully we'll be able to reach them, because I'm not climbing a tree to reach a bird."
"No argument here," Kathryn agreed. Just as they were about to go off to find Marco, he came running around a corner, nearly crashing into them.
"What's wrong?" Rachel demanded immediately.
"Guards," Marco panted. "They saw me milling around back there and didn't believe me when I said I was waiting someone. I might have lost them, since I took the long way here, but I wouldn't bet on it."
"Crap," Rachel said. "Kathryn, take my arm, and be ready to run."
"Is this a regular occurrence with you guys?" Kathryn asked as the three began to run down the hall.
"More often then I'd like it to be," Marco said.
Behind them, Kathryn faintly heard someone shout, "There's that kid!"
"Guards are behind us," Kathryn warned as they turned another corner.
"What?" Marco asked. He paused. "How'd you know that? And they're the same two who were chasing me."
"Super hearing, remember?" Kathryn said.
"Golf cart up ahead," Rachel said, not taking time to concentrate on Marco and Kathryn's banter. "Should we take it?"
"Definitely," Kathryn said. Rachel led the way to the cart and climbed in, hauling Kathryn into the seat next to her. Marco climbed into the back seat. Kathryn heard Rachel turn a key and the tiny engine sputtered to life.
As Rachel careened through the corridors, Marco shouted over the din, "Am I the only one with a feeling of deja vu here?"
"You're the only one who's stupid enough to get caught by guards both times he's come back here, so I'd say yes!" Rachel shouted over her shoulder.
"Where did you learn to drive?!" Marco demanded as Rachel nearly sideswiped a wall.
"Will you shut up?" Rachel asked. "I'm concentrating on getting us out of here without being caught, not proper driving etiquette!"
"How about both of you shut up?" Kathryn suggested. "Rachel, keep driving, get us out of here, but please don't run into a wall. We're trying to escape, not lead the guards right to us."
"Yeah!" Marco agreed.
"You, Marco, just stay quiet!"
"Yes, ma'am."
"We're almost out of here," Rachel said after a few minutes. I'm gonna stop this as soon as we're out and then we've gotta run." Moments later, the cart skidded to a stop. Rachel and Marco jumped out, helped Kathryn out, then the three began to run again.
"Dolphin show," Marco said, "We can blend into the crowd."
Kathryn felt herself being pulled in another direction and being pulled back so she wouldn't run anymore. "Would either of you two mind telling me when you're doing that?" she asked as she was pushed through the crowd in front of the dolphins. "I'm going to break my neck sometime if you don't."
Kathryn felt Marco's arm slip over her shoulders, "Kathryn, I can see we're gonna need to work on our team work skills here."
"Well, everyone's leaving, guess the show's over," Rachel observed. "Perhaps we can get the dolphins to come over here so you can acquire one, Kathryn."
"Cool," Kathryn said, and waited patiently with Rachel and Marco, enjoying the sounds of the dolphins playing.
Before long, one of the dolphins swam up to the side of it's tank and stood on it's tail, looking at Rachel, Marco and Kathryn. Without prompting this time, Kathryn laid a hand on the rubbery nose of the dolphin and quickly acquired the animal.
"Now for the owl?" she asked as they left the dolphin exhibit.
"Yeah," Rachel said. "Marco!"
From behind them, Kathryn heard Marco shout back, "What?"
"What are you doing?" Kathryn tagged along behind Rachel as she walked back to wherever Marco was.
"Reading the events calendar here. They've got a raptor show just finishing up. You're supposed to be able to touch the birds they have, including owls. I think that'd be alot better than trying to sneak into the owl habitat, don't you?"
"Definitely," Kathryn agreed, in no hurry to repeat the adventure they'd already had with the guards.
"I'm for that," Rachel said. "Lead the way, Marco."
On the walk to the raptor show, Kathryn tried to take in all the smells and sounds she could. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been to the zoo. She remembered going once, when she was real little, to a petting zoo with her family, but since then, her parents had refused to take her. She couldn't see any of the animals, after all, why should they waste their time and money on taking her there?
They got in the end of a line of kids waiting to pet the birds. Kathryn felt out of place among the younger children, but shrugged it off. To avoid looking suspicious, each of them petted one of the birds. Rachel whispered to Kathryn when they reached the owl, and Kathryn acquired it without incident. They hurried out of The Gardens after that, meeting Tobias and Ax, who had both morphed human, in a small stand of woods just outside the gates.
"Get your morphs?" Tobias asked.
"Yeah," Kathryn said. "Barely."
"Uh-oh. What happened?"
"Never trust Marco to watch for guards," Rachel said, taking the time now to make fun of Marco all she wanted.
"And just how is it my fault the guards decided to patrol there right then?"
"Somehow, Marco, everything can be blamed on you."
Kathryn was standing next to Tobias as Rachel and Marco were exchanging insults. "Do they do this often?"
"Whenever they get a chance," Tobias said. He raised his voice slightly, "I hate to interrupt, but we should head back to the woods, don't you think? Teach this girl how to morph?" Rachel and Marco grudgingly quit their argument. Tobias and Ax returned to their bird forms and took to the air while Marco, Rachel and Kathryn waited for the bus that would take them to the woods.
Chapter Seven
The five of them were in the woods, not far from the path that led back to Kathryn's camp. Kathryn was standing in her swimsuit, shifting from one foot to another to try and keep pine needles from puncturing her feet.
"Owl," Rachel said. "None of us know exactly what tiger instincts are like, and you obviously can't morph a dolphin here, but we know what owls are like, so we can be ready for what you might do."
"Might do?"
When you morph, you get more than just the body of the animal, > Tobias said, You get it's instincts, too. In this case, you're going to get an instinct for searching out small prey...unless it just wants to sleep. I've never morphed owl, and I don't think any of us have ever morphed it in the daytime. >
Kathryn shrugged. "Well, here goes..." She formed the image of an owl in her mind. Stocky body, powerful beak and talons, huge eyes, gray feathers. Ever so slowly, she felt the changes begin. Her arms grinding as the bones shrank to form wings, her skin slowly melting into feathers, her feet splitting into talons. She felt like the changes should hurt, but any pain was numbed and far away, so she only felt strange.
It took awhile, much longer than it took any of the others to morph, but she finally felt that the morph was complete.
There was no sudden surge of raw animal instinct, like she'd expected. The owl consciousness was just sort of there. Not even trying to override her own. Tobias was right: all the bird wanted to do was sleep.
Guys, I think something's wrong. I still can't see anything! >
"Try opening your eyes," Marco said. Kathryn nearly stumbled back, his voice was so loud! She was used to having sensitive hearing, but the owl's sense of hearing was way more fine tuned than any human's could ever be. But Marco was right, she'd completed the morph with her eyes closed. Tentatively, she opened her eyes.
Oh, my God.... > she murmured as she took in her first look at the world. The pine needles under her talons were dead and brown, but it was a beautiful brown. The trunks of the trees were a similar shade of brown, and the leaves...Kathryn had never known the color green was so rich and brilliant. She turned her head to look at her friends for the first time. Marco was short, probably no taller than she was when she was human. Dark hair, dark skin...quite cute, actually, although she had a feeling that if she ever told Marco that she'd never hear the end of it. Rachel was tall and beautiful. Hair blonder than Kathryn had ever imagined, and her eyes were an intense blue.
Seeing Ax was quite a shock. She'd never been able to get a real clear picture of him in her mind, so she didn't know what to expect. His body reminded her of a centaur, except she didn't think centaurs had ever come in such a bright shade of blue. His four eyes were almost as green as the leaves on the trees, and his tail looked even more deadly than Kathryn had ever imagined it.
And Tobias' hawk body was possibly one of the most beautiful she'd ever seen. Grace, beauty and efficient killer, all wrapped up in one tidy package.
Woohoo! This is amazing! > Kathryn shouted as she beat her powerful wings to get her first flying experience.
Don't get carried away, > Tobias cautioned. Being an animal's wonderful until you're trapped forever. >
I don't know, I could get used to this, > Kathryn said as she perched on a branch far above everyone else's head.
"Wait until it's night!" Rachel shouted. "It gets even better!"
You mean there's something better than this? > Kathryn asked skeptically. Come on, everyone, let's go flying! > She zoomed up into the air without waiting for an answer.
Chapter Eight
But she followed everyone else as they landed to demorph. It felt like going to prison when she returned to her human body. A prison that was practically sound proofed and didn't have any windows.
Rachel gave Kathryn a stern lecture as she escorted Kathryn back to camp. "I know staying in an animal form, especially one like an owl, is tempting, especially when life isn't going as well as you want it too. But it's not the answer Kathryn, okay?"
"Who said I was planning on staying an owl?" Kathryn demanded, hurt that her intents had been so transparent.
"It was kind of obvious, Kathryn. I know how wonderful owl vision is, I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for you. But I can imagine the temptation you faced of staying in that form for two hours. We've all been there. Whenever we've felt low we've all considered that option. But we've always looked to Tobias then. We all know the hell Tobias has gone through since he was trapped in his hawk body. Sure, he pretends it doesn't bother him but we, well, I know that he's as tormented by it as I--the rest of us are."
"You're right, Rachel, you can't begin to imagine what it was like for me to be able to see. Sure, you guys all thing raptor vision is the best, but you can't truly enjoy it, not the way I can. I can't promise much, Rachel, but I can say I won't do anything without alot of thought."
"Well, I guess that's all I can ask. Here's the path." Kathryn grabbed the rope barrier and ducked under it to reach the path. She heard Rachel begin to walk away.
"Rachel?" The footsteps stopped. "Thank you."
Kathryn imagined Rachel smiling. The same super model smiled she'd flashed earlier. "Your welcome."
***
Kathryn spent most of the remaining day alone in her tent, thinking about her plan. She desperately wanted to stay in owl form. She had never had more fun in her life. But there were several reasons to stay human, too. For one thing, if she became an owl nothlit, she'd lose her power to morph, she wouldn't be able to help the Animorphs much. And she'd lose her family. True, they didn't act like they even liked her, let alone loved her, but out of some sense of loyalty she loved them all. What would happen to them if she disappeared? But what could possibly happen to her if she remained human? Nothing, that's what she figured. She'd be on welfare all her life because she couldn't get a decent job, her parents weren't planning on sending her to college. Another waste of money, according to them. And if she stayed human and fought the Yeerks, she always ran the risk of being caught by her parents, who would ground her until she was 40, and she couldn't save the world when she was grounded.
She grabbed a notebook and pen out of her suitcase and laboriously began following the small dents in the paper that guided her handwriting
Chapter Nine
She reached the end of the path and searched the ground quickly for a rock to keep her note from flying away while she morphed. She found one and set her note under it. Then she began to change.
The morph happened quicker this time. She figured it went faster with practice. With one talon she picked up the stone and quickly grabbed her note with the other. She flapped her powerful wings and soared into the night.
Rachel had been right, the owl's eyesight in daylight was nothing compared to its night vision. Her owl eyes saw everything, right down to the blades of grass that swayed in the wind. Unfortunately, she also saw a host of other rodents. She knew she would have to grow accustomed to eating those animals quickly, but she preferred to think about other things at the moment.
The others had all told her earlier that day where they lived, so finding Rachel's house wasn't a problem. The lights were out in Rachel's house, but through her window Kathryn could see Rachel sleeping. Gently, Kathryn landed on the window sill of Rachel's room. Rachel had left the window open, so Kathryn didn't need to worry about waking Rachel inadvertently by knocking against the glass. She released the note from one talon and set the rock on top of it with the other to keep it from being blown away by the wind. Rachel would find it in the morning and she'd know everything.
Before taking off, Kathryn looked at the clock on Rachel's table. She'd been in morph for an hour and a half already. Only half an hour left before she was trapped, forever, as a hawk.
There's still time to change your mind, Kathryn reminded herself.
No way. She answered. She turned around on the window sill to face out. She spread her wings and glided out, leaving behind all the prisons she had known to finally know what freedom was.