Ok quick note, as those who read Animorphs know the books are told from the perspective of one person, and for the moment that person is Tobias, mainly because he's the only one that knows what's going on at the moment. At some point I may change over to another charter, or just drop it, if I do I'll make it clear, and I have no idea when that may happen, but it probably won't be for a while.
For the record anything thing with in () is thought speech, I know it's suppose to > be but for some reason the preview page won't let me do both sides of >,so if anyone knows how to get to the proper symbols to work I'd appreciate it. I also had to redo all thought speech so if I missed anyone let me know and I'll fix it
Mythic Storm- Oh yes, Vlad will indeed show up, but it will take a while, and while I can't say anything more, expect him to be at the core of a few things they'll effect Tobias and the DP crew
Silverchild of the wind- hopefully I've managed to get Tobias closer to his original voice, if not, feel free to drop me a few suggestions, I've reread a few of my old books to prepare for this but I'm fully aware I've gotten a few things about him.
Distant6- hopefully this'll make a little more sense to you, I now the first chapter wasn't that good, but I just wanted to get all that stuff set up so I could get to the real story and not worry about it later.
Just before I hit the city limits I checked in with Nikki via e-mail like I had with the last three jobs, and as usual she had done her usual exquisite job of tracking down every piece of information I could possibly need about those I might encounter. Well almost, her programming still prevented her from hacking into any journals or diaries, basically anything private they might keep on their computer. But anything that was close to semi public she condensed and gave me in individual profiles, photos, medical histories, schedules, maps, floor plans, the girl could get anything from their measurements to their x-rays if she felt it was relevant. Of course as good as she was there were always a few omissions, connections for some reason she couldn't make, a just weird little over sites, but they were the exception rather than the rule.
The only real down side to the surge of information was that I had to remember all of it. Granted years back I'd figured out hot to morph normal clothing, in the early days we were stuck with skin tight clothing, and all I needed to do was stick a print out in my pocket and I'd still be there when I re took that form, but there was no way to carry that much information in paper form. So I was forced to only carry the essentials, maps, photos, and the most basic people I'd be dealing with.
Unlike with the other ghost hunters slipping into the Fenton's lives would take a little bit of work. The 'Fraidy Cat crew and the Extreme Ghost Chasers traveled all over the country and didn't have any close ties to anyone in the area, and the Men in White had so many agents the few times I morphed one of my adult forms they ignored me as long as I was in one of their suits. While I could get a lot of my information with the usual animal morph observations, this was going to take a human touch.
I wrote off Jack and Madelyn half way down their respective profiles, personal experience had taught me acquiring family members and trying to infiltrate said families was not the best idea, no matter how much I observed them there were always something that gave me away. No my best bet was taking the form of a friend, one close enough to care about what they did when it came to their profession. I need to be a new friend, or someone out of contact enough to explain any weird behavior. Unfortunately they seemed to have few friends in town, or anywhere for that matter, and the few they did had little interest in their profession. Well except for one, and I wasn't going to make a detour to Wisconsin just to acquire one guy.
Which left their kids, Daniel only seemed to have two friends, but given the length of time they'd known each other they were to close for me become convincingly, and I really didn't want to try and make friend with him just to essentially stab in the back. Which left the daughter, and according to Nikki my way in.
Jasmine seemed to have less friends than her brother, a grand total of zero, why Nikki couldn't tell me. The girl was brilliant, beautiful, and apparently very kind, she seemed to be the total package, the person everyone would normally want to be around, and the answer to my question was pretty obvious. Her parents were overly enthusiastic about their job, to the point of having a few restraining orders filed against them. It wasn't that much of a reach to assume they were the source of their daughters apparent exile. Not that she wasn't trying she, she was the head of the pep squad, a student counselor, and a student tutor.
Yep this girl was defiantly my way in, if not by morphing one of those she tutored, then by one of her little projects. The girl had a track record of getting involved with some really weird guys, goths, punks, wanna be tough guys, your basic screaming for attention folk. According to Nikki she was involved with a new one about once a mouth, and was apparently trying to 'fix' them, make them normal, apparently since she couldn't make her own family normal she was settling on working her magic on other people. How Nikki found that out without walking into the private area was beyond me, but it made sense. As weird as her family seemed to be, it kind of made sense that she'd strive to create a kind of normalcy around her, but it did seem a little creepy, and this is from a guy who ingests fresh blood almost every time he eats.
Of course saying she was my way in, and making that a reality were to very different things, which is what brought me to Casper High, about two hours before classes ended. Finding the school wasn't that hard, maps were something I'd gotten good at memorizing, I did a few quick laps around the building from the sky, ridding the thermals like no other birds on earth could. I was high enough up that if anyone saw me they'd just assume I was a normal hawk, of course they had no reason to think I was anything else. Unfortunately part of the windows were catching the sun at the right angle to prevent me from seeing though the glass, I could have switched to a bird better equipped, but at the moment I wasn't in any great rush to find her, and looked forward to hunting her down.
I pulled me wings in close to my body and dove, letting the sky wrap around me one last time till I escaped what would soon be an uncomfortable feeling of claustrophobia and enjoyed a quick rush of adrenaline as the roof quickly grew close. At the last second I flared my wings and pulled out of the dive and leveled off so close to the roof, my feathers brushed against it. A quick turn and a few quick flaps and I came to rest on the building.
(I really thought I was done with high school,) the though speak was on a tight beam, not traveling any further than half an inch in front of my beak. It only took a few quick hoops to get to a ventilation shaft, and I couldn't help but shake me head at the screen covering it. (This is way to easy.)
I would have preferred to go straight mouse and avoid the inevitable creeping , but that wasn't an option, so I focused on an old stand by, the house fly, one of the few insect morphs I didn't mind doing. After all these years I still have no real idea how morphing works I just know it does, first comes the painkiller, well not really, but you know what's happening should hurt but it doesn't. First all my feathers started to get sucked into my body and I began to shrink. Then my beak softened and started turning into the tube that flies laughingly call a mouth, while my wings and legs started simultaneously changing, forming the multi-jointed legs of the fly while a new set grew between them. My tail completely disappeared while a new set of wings shot out of my back, all the while I could hear the squishing sounds of my organs change inside my body. This continued for about twenty seconds, and the whole way, I kept my eyes, my perfect raptor eye, eyes that let me read a newspaper on the street from on top of a two story building, eyes that let me see every detail of my change with sickening accuracy. That's the one really big down side of morphing, it's always random, sometimes it's perfectly orderly, and sometimes your body tries to shrink and your guts don't and you always wonder if this is going to be the time you pop. Then finally they were gone and the fly's multi eyes formed and the mind came to the surface. Food, flight, escape the same desires it had every time I took the form, desires I had long ago learned to control.
A quick flap of my new wings and I was air born, all be it in a very different way from the flight of a hawk. I was now able to move forwards and backwards, up and down and anyway in between, as always it took me a second to adjust to the new eyes. Even after all these years going from the sharp vision of the hawk to the multi-eyes of the common house fly was always a little weird, things were upside down that shouldn't have been, others were the wrong color, and I was seeing in way to many directions at once. After a few seconds I was finally ready and slipped between the bars of the vent and buzzed down the metal tunnel, and really wished I had spent more time trying to memorize the lay out of the building network, not that it would soon matter.
The second my six legs hit the metal of the shaft I demorphed, then took on the form of a mouse I had killed years earlier. Bones shifted directions, hair replaced feathers, eyes meant for day light hunting adapted to a life where day and night were equally important. Thankfully the instincts never screamed at me as they had in the past when I took this form, yes it was uneasy to be in unfamiliar territory, and it picked up the scents of other rodents, but it was safe in the dark, where predators where less likely to get it. The same couldn't be said for the hawk psyche that was forever part of me that was continually screaming to get out back in the sun and open sky.
There was a certain justice in the form, after all I was in a virtual maze, and there were few forms better able to run a maze. Testing the air, I headed to the nearest scent of humans and hopped this wasn't going to be to hard. I wish that was dashed about a minute in when I came to drop off in the system.
(I should've kept my wings,) shaking my head and letting my tail swish in aggravation stirring up a little dust storm behind me. The mouse might not have had much in the way of night vision compared to other bodies I'd been in but the other senses easily compensated as I looked down and used my ears and nose to evaluate the danger that might lie below. Closing my eyes, (I hate this part,) again the words traveling no further than myself and jumped into the unknown. Just as my other senses had said it was safe, but that didn't stop it from hurting when I landed probably eight feet down. Shaking off the pain I kept walking and checking the air and trying to follow the scent of people. It couldn't have been more than five minutes till I had escaped the interior of the network and finally found myself overlooking a classroom through a ventilation screen.
It didn't look that different from the school I had been in so long ago, and shook off the old memories of torture and did a quick check of the assembled students, which was all it took to tell me she either wasn't in there, or she no longer had red hair. It was the same for the next three rooms, which was when I mentally slapped myself for not swinging by her house and picking us her scent when I had the chance. I must have wandered the vents for ten minutes till I finally found her, and then, that was only because I heard her teacher call her by name.
I watched her for the rest of the class, and it became clear Nikki, as always, was dead on in her analysis of the girl, she was smart, aware, and very much alone. Something I knew all to well. Unfortunately observing her didn't tell me anything I hadn't already learned from Nikki's report. Near the end of class I decided I was barking up the wrong tree and walked half way between two vents and demorphed. The fit was a little tighter than I thought I'd be but it was still big enough to hold my hawk body, then took the form of a green anole I'd acquired in Cassie's bran one day just to see what being a reptile was like, a generic lizard if there was one, I knew most people wouldn't look twice at me. While the body might have lacked a few things when it came to vision, the colors were all wrong and the visuals where distorted, it had two big benefits over the mouse, it could slip though the vent, and climb on walls and ceilings.
I hung a u-turn and crawled back to Jasmine's class room, and just like expected no one noticed a little lizard crawl out of the vent and on to the ceiling. . Just to be on the safe side I shot my tongue out when I was over her and tasted the air, trying to imprint the scent on my mind so I could follow her if this went south I listened to the teacher go on and on for about five minute, then the bell rang, and the lizards instincts to run increased a hundred fold, almost to the point of overriding my control. I forced myself to breath, knowing full well what I was doing was probably a mistake, but did it anyway. Jasmine grabbed her back pack and slipped it over her shoulder and released my hold on my footing and dropped down on top of her it. My heart pounded in my rip cage, ready to jump and run the second someone screamed after spotting me, but it never came, somehow I was able to pry the zipper open with my head and claws and slipped into the confines of the cloth and pulled it shut behind me as best I could.
Sighing deeply I kept my guard up, knowing full well, at any given moment she open her the pack and I'd be in a world of trouble. I stayed still as a statue for about five minute then dared a look and clawed the zipper open enough to open a hole to look through. I watched the world pass from my spot on her back, but focused more on the words that were said, listening for anything that might give me a clue to the inner working on Jasmine's mind.
Except for a few words to her brother in the hall she didn't say anything the whole way home, except for the occasional moment when she'd find herself singing along with a song from her car's radio. And the whole time I was painfully aware of the time limit hanging over my head, that and the pencil stabbing into my neck, and I had no intention of being a lizard for the rest of my life.
It took about twenty minutes for her to get home, which meant I needed to change back in an hour or less to be on the safe side. The second she walked through the front door I was greeted by what had to be the sound of her fathers voice.
"GHOST," followed by something that sounded like pudding hitting a wall and Jasmine screaming and given the movement of everything in her bag, running. Off in the distance I could hear her dad yell after her in a voice that was growing fainter as she ran, "oh sorry sweetheart, the new Fenton Finder Mark Two has a few glitches, it picked up some kind of weird energy signature, so I decided to hit it with the Fenton Foamer the second it came in range."
Great, this guys either as crazy as Nikki made him out to be, it's a big coincidence, or that thing could somehow track me, either way I was going to have to be on the alert as long as I stayed in the house. After a few seconds of books slamming into me, and at least three paper cuts I felt her tear the back pack off followed by the world losing all sense of direction as she undoubtedly threw the pack to the ground, followed by what I hoped was a door slam.
It took a second to figure out where everything was after I hit the ground, unfortunately that was having in the pack on top of me, and giving the pain shooting threw my right hind leg, there was a good chance it was broken. It took almost a minute but I was able to dig myself out and pull the zipper open, a quick look told me I was alone and Jasmine's bed had a floor length skirt, which looked like a really good hiding spot. I took a deep breath and shot into the light of her room as quickly as my three working legs would carry me and hid under the bed, really hoping I wasn't going to find something horrific hiding under there.
It wasn't really a surprise to find the space under the bed immaculate, which was fine by me, a quick check told me the space was bear and big enough for what I had planned. I peaked my head out from under the bed just to make sure I hadn't left a trail of blood or anything else. When I was sure she wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary I demorphed and laid as well as I could on the carpet under the bed, grateful the space to the underside of the bed was higher than I originally thought with my lizard eyes.
After a few tense moments I once more peaked my head out from under the bed to get a better reading on my surroundings, a lizard might have been good for stealth, but the eyes did not perceive things quite up to my standard.
The room was pink. I don't mean a little pink, I mean everything was pink, the bed was pink, walls were pink, furniture was pink, EVERYTHING with the exception of the TV was pink. The site actually froze my blood for a second, and I have no idea why. I actually experienced a full body shiver after I pulled myself back under the bed.
(Looks like somebody lost their dream house.,) shaking my head a little as I kept the thought speech to myself.
With ears that surpassed a humans I heard Jasmine walking down the hall, "why does he have to do that?" Defiantly ticked off, not that I blamed her, given what I heard. Almost as if on cue I heard the door slam, "Why can't I come from a normal family," the words little more than a whimper as she threw herself on the bed, the springs above me creaking quietly and my space contracting slightly. "I just want a normal family, is that to much to ask?" I felt for her, I knew what it was like to want a normal family. For the next few minutes all I heard was the rhythmic sound of Jasmine's breathing, a breathing that was barely controlled as she stood at the border of a slight break down.
It never came though, she eventually rolled off the bed and grabbed her back pack and pulled a few books out and started doing what sounded like homework at her desk. And that's where she sat for an hour or so, not talking, just shifting between writing and typing. The quiet gave me a chance to listen to the sounds of her home and try and get a read on who else might be around. There were at least three other people on the floor, I couldn't really make out the words through all the doors and walls but they were there, probably her brother and his friends. Which gave me a total of five, possibly six if her mother was home. Not that it mattered if that thing her dad had could track me my plan was in big trouble.
Then again he hadn't come storming in when I demorphed so it really might have been a coincidence, that or he was respecting his daughters privacy.
Around the hour, hour and a half point, I heard the artificial rumble of thunder that could only be a car with some serious tweaking, and the creak of Jasmine's chair and the soft rustle of her feet against the carpet as she walked over to the window.
"Looks like dad's gone," relief flooding her voice, followed by more steps and the sound of her door opening.
Taking a deep breath, show time bird. I few seconds later I was a mouse again and a quick look told me what I had already knew, I was alone in her room. Cautiously I crawled out from under her bed, ready for inevitable return, letting the mouse mind crawl to the surface to warn me of danger, or in this case Jasmine's return.
I was left with three choices, look though her room and try and find the information I sought, which wasn't the smartest thing to do since she could come back at any second. Find her and keep watching and hope she say something useful, although at this point that was looking less and less likely. Or try and find where every piece of ghost information was kept in this place and run the risk of one of the four people I knew where here finding me. All three could be put off till a later time, but option three had the best chance of working.
I was really glad Nikki had tracked down detailed blue prints of the house, and power usage for each area, including all the additions they'd apparently made over the years. According to the file, the basement had been the main source of most of the homes energy use for a while, which was probably the best place to start.
I shot across the pink carpet of Jasmines room to her door, glad she'd left it open and took a reading of the air, checking for dangers before I entered. Four fresh scents lingered in the air, two male, two female, and one belonged to Jasmine, and given the underlying scent history of the hall the others were common in the house as well, most likely her brother and his friends. In any case, I didn't pick up any indication they might show up so scampered into the hall, grateful to be away from the burning pink of Jasmines room.
I stuck close to the wall as I ran, continually looking for places to run and hide if this went south. It took less than a minute to reach the end of the hall and find the first stair case, and by the time I was there my ears and nose had already alerted me to a possible problem, her brother and his friend were down there. Granted this wasn't a real problem, I just had to crawl down and make sure on one spotted me, if they did well, it's not like three teenagers were going to be much of a threat to me in the long run, any damage they did to me I could just morph out of.
There was one thing about rodents I did love, two if you counted the taste, their feet were designed to go just about anywhere. The clawed digits dug into the stairs and I just walked strait down them, one after another, down one side, walk across the expanse to the edge of next stair, then crawl down the side of it, and repeat all the way down. The whole time keeping my senses on high alert to let me know if I got to close to the three on the floor.
The going was slow but I eventually set foot on the first floor, and luckily I was alone, but not for long. The scent trails told me they had been here a few moments ago, and where now in what smelled like the kitchen, so they'd probably be back any time now. According to Nikki the stairs to the basement were down the hall across from the living room, which meant I had some distance to travel, made all the worse by the lack of furniture that seemed to stand between those two points. Luckily there was a small table with a slightly raised base that would hide me. Good thing to since my senses kicked on to over drive as I picked the subtle shift in smells that told me they were coming, and the not so subtle shift in sound as they started laughing on their way back.
I ran as fast as my little legs would carry me and probably got under the table a second before they walked through the door way. Not willing to let this chance slip by I moved closer to the edge of the table to get a good look at the three, as a good a look as I could get from being that close to the ground and staring up at them, not to say the view wasn't bad given how close the girl was.
"I can't believe your eating that," a girl in black, who I assumed to be Samantha Manson said, the disgust evident in her voice as she looked a at boy of African ancestry, who was probably Tucker Foley.
He had a giant sandwich in his hands that looked to by ninety percent meat, from the smell it was ham, "just because you have some weird objection to eating meat it doesn't mean I do," as he bit into it.
"She meant the fact that the harm warning alarm went off," the third, judging by the smell, it had to be Jasmine's brother Danny said shaking his head.
"Meat does not have an expiration date, that a myth propagated by the vegetarian illuminati to further their own twisted goals.
"You don't actually listen to yourself when you speak do you?" she shot back in a biting tone that can only be used by those that have a close bond.
"I'll have you know the longevity of meat is a well established fact, I'll show you….." his words trailing off as a really bad feeling swept over me as the world was filled with the sound of a high pitched scream. I didn't even have to time to crawl back under the table as it was turned over and I had a very big foot trying to come down on me.
Apparently during the conversation I had crept to close to the assembled gaggle and left my head visible, judging by the high pitched scream I guessed it was Samantha, but didn't really have to think about it as I used every trick the rodent population had tried to use on me to keep from ending up in my talons and used it to avoid ending up on the bottom of one of their shoes. I knew I could survive the hit, it didn't mean I really wanted to take it.
All around me there was chaos, feet, the two perusing me screaming at each other, and the constant high pitched scream in the background. Luckily my senses kept me two steps ahead of every move they made. The sickening thud of shoes and the occasional crash of furniture was quickly getting old as I danced between the Danny's legs and caused him to fall face first to the ground. Which was good for me since the attack abruptly ended as his partner went to him and I as able to disappear down the hall.
A few steps down I turned around and grabbed a quick look at the three to make sure they weren't hurt. Danny was sitting up and holding his head with Samantha kneeling next to him, obviously concerned. Meanwhile Tucker was standing on the couch shifting from one leg to the other and continuing to use that high pitch scream.
(Huh, apparently that's not just a female stereotype,) shaking my head and scampering down the hall, my eyes locked onto the big metal door at the end of the hall, (yeah that's real subtle). Judging from the smells coming from the direction of the door it was either open, or had holes into it, either way I could get in. Turns out it was open so I just slipped through, which was fine by me, demorphing in the hall wasn't something I was looking forward to especially since those three could be on my tail at any moment.
I decided to forgo my former elegance on the steps on the other side of the door and just jumped. I misjudged the jump in the darkness of the descending hall and over shot the first step and collided face first with the second and ended up rolling down the remaining stairs, a new side of my body slamming into the hard metal stairs one after another till I finally came to rest on the brightly lit floor.
(Well at least no one saw that,) I groaned to myself as I tried to get up and realized very quickly something was broken as indicated by the searing pain shooting through my side. With gritted teeth I demorphed into my healthy hawk body, the world around me taking on a heightened clarity. Oh yeah this has got to be the place, looking around at all the polished chrome, blinking lights, and all number of devices whose function I couldn't begin to imagine.
Sighing slightly I considered going human but choose to stay in my regular form on the off chance I needed to morph quick. Unsure where to start I spread my wings and flapped hopping onto the metal desk hoping to get a better vantage point on the situation. My claws made contact with a few papers rather than hard metal and I left small indentions in them. Shrugging I started with the papers , near as I could tell they were schematics for some kind of gun, but the math was beyond me. Under that sheet of schematics was a second that has said Fenton Finder Mark Two, the device that if memory served was what I thought had locked on to me. Most of the words were gibberish, but it did have a small description in the corner. Somehow it tracked abnormal energy signatures that had become associated with ghosts, how it tracked me on the other hand was a mystery, but considering I was a hybrid of alien technology and The Ellimist's power it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that I had my own weird energy signature at this point.
I moved aside the other papers and didn't find anything useful on them either, and moved on to my next target. A few flaps brought me to another table full of devices, given the forms some were obviously weapons or would be when they were completed, guns, bazookas , swords, a lot of stuff for hurting ghosts but nothing for communicating with them.
I rummaged around on the table, giving every piece of equipment the once over hoping their true propose could be discovered and wishing I could use the computer on the table, unfortunately talons and keyboards were not compatible. I rummaged around on the table for a few minutes, before giving up and setting my eyes on a control consol against the near wall.
I spread my wings ready to jump over to it, when I pick up a few stray sounds, and my plans changed. It takes a few seconds for the sounds to change to actual words as their sources go closer, the trio are heading my direction. Bristling my feather a little in aggravation I glided to the ground and over to the consol, landing I focus on a body I'd rather ignore, but one that's perfect for the moment. I go from hawk to cockroach and crawl between the device and the wall and wait.
In the new body it feels like an eternity, it's instincts are screaming at me to run, all around me are strange vibration that it can't recognize, vibrations I know to be the sounds of the internal machinery. The insect is terrified and wants to flee it, yet at the same time it's conflicted between the safety of shadow and danger of the light. After what was only a minute a new set of vibrations start, the sound of them coming down the stairs and talking, vibrations I long ago learned to translate.
"You sure your ok Danny," if there's any concern in her voice it's lost on me.
"Please I just fell, compared to the beatings I've taken that was nothing," that had to be Danny, and just like Nikki said the kid had a few guys at school after him.
"If your sure," Samantha again.
"I'm telling you I'm fine Sam just drop it ok," even with my limited hearing I knew that that had to carry a little aggravation.
"Can we just get this over with, it might be done here," again even I didn't have to hear him to know Tucker was afraid.
"I don't believe you, it was a mouse, I understand the hospital thing, but that's slightly pathetic."
"Do you have any idea what kinds of diseases' those things carry Danny? Those things carry the plague."
"Yeah a few hundred years ago Tuck, their harmless now."
"Of course, the vegetarian defends the mouse, of all people you should be afraid of it."
"Excuse me," I didn't even have to see Samantha I know it was going to end badly. "You think just because I'm a girl I should be afraid of mice? Do you have any idea how sexist that is?" I really wish I could see him though the consol, he must have been sweating bullets at that one, not that I hadn't thought the same things earlier.
"No, but they do eat…. yeah they yet corn, and wheat, and all those other foods they waste time growing."
"GUYS," Danny's voice cut through the air before Samantha could come back with a reply. "We've already gone through this once, if your going to debate meat vs. veggie you will leave the house and not contact me till after you've settled it, cause I don't want a repeat of last time." A few grumbled comments I couldn't understand later both agreed.
"So what are we doing down here?" Samantha asked.
"I need to change the Ectofiltrator on the Ghost Portal."
"I thought your dad said you had to change that every six month?"
"He did, but after what happened last time, I try to change it every month just to be on the safe side."
"And your doing it now why?"
"The bump on the head reminded me to do it," even in my current body I could pick up the subtle sounds of a laugh from one of them. Then my world went a little crazy as the machine started putting out all kinds of noise and I was forced to move. I scrambled along the wall then under the machine and edged my way to the light that separated the safety of consol from the rest of the lab, luckily the bottom muffled most of the noise and let me get a better read on the three.
"So where's the Specter Speeder," Samantha asked, leaning against the consol, her foot dangerously close to me, sending the roach of self preservation drive into high gear, something I was barley able to control.
"Dad's doing something to it, I'm not sure what, not sure I want to."
Tucker shifted stance several feet away, "so no more trips into the Ghost Zone huh?"
My interest perked up at that comment, it sounds like pay dirt to me.
"Not for a while, and it's fine by me, we have enough problems with the ones that keep escaping, the last thing we need to be doing right now is going and trying to find them."
Sam shifted her feet and moved away from me, "I don't know, they do make the day less boring."
"Good then you can fight the next one that escapes," if that didn't have a hint of aggravation in it, it should have, as the three walked away and back up the stairs.
I stayed where I was for a few minutes just to be sure they had left before crawling out and demorphing. I didn't understand everything that they said but I understood enough, they had a way of going into the land of the dead, and at least three fourths' of the family had a thing for fighting ghosts, if not his friends as well. But at the moment I only cared about one thing, my search might be over, I might actually find a way to see, if not be with Rachel again. To hold her, to smell her, or at least to let her know how much I needed her, how much she made my life worth living. I could feel my heart beat increase drastically at the thought, and for a brief moment I became light headed as the excitement over took me.
I forced myself to take a deep breath, shifting the feathers on my breast, as I made myself calm down. Nothing said I was going to get that far, if it even worked, and there was no point in getting my hope up, not yet. I spent another hour down there but wasn't able to come up with any useful information regarding the how to get into the Ghost Zone or where this Specter Speeder might be kept.
Aggravated, I retook my mouse form and crawled up the stairs and was greeted by the smell of food. I skulked down the hall, fully ready for round two, but got lucky, everyone in the house seemed to be in the kitchen/dinning room which left me free to run around the house to a degree. I took a quick detour in what seemed to be a second living room/library and crawled up the book case on the off chance they might have some books that could be useful. I was more than a little surprised when I found a shelf of tech manual's that had one thing in common, they all started with 'Fenton'. They actually had an entire wall of manuals for things they had invented, definite score, problem was I wasn't in a position, or body capable of reading them. Looks like I might not need Jasmine after all
(See you later,) I told the manuals and climbed down the book case, walked through the house, and back up the stairs. (Ok lets see if I can find this thing,) I said to myself as I tried to remember where Nikki said the entrance to the Op-center was. I crawled around for about five minutes but I finally stumbled onto the stair case that lead to it. I was glad to see the door wasn't completely shut allowing me to crawl through, since if what Nikki said was true and this thing did break away and become a blimp I didn't want to run the risk of damaging the integrity of it.
Checking the air, it was obvious no one had been in it for a few days, which was good for me, all the morphing was starting to effect me. One of the many downs side to morphing is if you do it to much in a short period of time and you get exhausted real quick, luckily I spread mine out a bit and had developed a considerable tolerance over the year. Had I been smarter I would have asked The Ellimist to remove it, ah well.
I spent the next few hours up there exploring and waiting for the family below to go to bed so I could check out the manuals in relative peace. At some point I must have fallen asleep since the glowing numbers on an electronic clock ended up going from 8:17 to 3:47 in a big hurry.
Yawning as best I could with a hawk beak I crept over to the door and greeted to the sounds of snoring, (perfect). I didn't bother morphing I just pushed the door open wider with my head and jumped and spread my wings as far as I could in the small hallway and half glided half flapped through the second floor on my way to the first. All in all I cut down on my travel time considerably and landed at the foot of the book case in a fraction of the time it had taken me on foot.
Looking up at the case I knew I was going to need something a little better equipped than a hawk for the job. I had a few choices at my disposal, and while the human morphs would work, I felt like exploiting the situation a little. If a human broke into their house they might get suspicious, but if ghost showed up they'd hopefully blow it off, and I had a couple of forms that might be close enough. I focused on a body I hadn't needed to take in a long time, Ax's body, the body of an Andalite.
First I felt the bones in body grow stronger followed by the second set of eyes shoot from my head, then my tail feathers fused and shot out like a whip the blade emerging just as fast. And for half a second that's all the happened I was four eyed hawk with a long bladed tail, them all at once everything started together, wings became arms ending in a six fingered hand, talons became hooves and a second set of legs started randomly growing out behind them as my body lengthened to accommodate them making me look like a horse except for nearly human torso where the head should have been. Finally the feather receded and were replaced by blue fur and my beak was sucked into my face.
For a second I just stood there enjoying the power of the body, then it washed over me like a wave, the Andalite instincts, and they encompass my very being. Unlike most instincts they didn't try and take over, they were just there, or more specifically it was there, total optimism, it didn't block out the fear and anxiousness I was feeling but it did temper it and made me smile the only way an Andalite can smile, with it's eyes. To this day I don't know how to explain it Andalites just smile with their eyes.
My two stalk eyes, each capable of moving independently of the other, kept a constant look out while I used my main eyes, to read the titles of each book. It took a few seconds to go through the titles but I finally found the manual for the Specter Speeder and started reading. After about ten pages I began to think it wasn't my way into the Ghost Zone, it just seemed to be a fancy hover craft capable of traveling through the Ghost Zone, not the actual source of the way in. Stomping a hoof I put the manual back and started from the first one in the row and scanned it looking for some hint as to the gateway generator. About eight books and forty five minutes in my tail was twitching in irritation and I was close to throwing a book through a window. Slipping the newest book back in it's spot I grabbed the one listed Fenton Portal, before I could open it I picked up the sound of creaking. My stalk eyes came together focusing on where the sound had come from as my body tensed and I readied my tail blade in case I had a fight on my hand.
At first nothing happened, and I thought it might been a natural sound for the house, then Jack Fenton walked into my line of sight. We just stared at each other for a second, neither sure what to do, not sure I was actually seeing a grown man in striped pick pajamas, and what appeared to the bottom of an orange and black hazmat suit. For half a second I allowed myself to believe he was sleep walking, or still half asleep and would chalk this all of to a dream.
"GHOOOOOOOSSSSTTTT!"
So much for that though as I watched him dive to the ground roll and pull a silver gun from somewhere and point it at me. I let skill take over as I whipped my tail out and caught the barrel of the gun with the flat of my blade and knocked it out of his hand.
(Guns aren't exactly friendly,) his eyes going large as my thoughts filled his head as I turned to face him all four eyes now trained on him, the manual still in hand.
"GET AWAY FROM MY HUSBAND," the words just filled the air as I was kicked and sent to the ground by something hitting me between the fore and hind legs. The impact forced me to drop the book from my hand and sent in sliding across the floor. I split my vision, main eyes still of Jack while the stalk ones focused on the new threat, something I had already guessed thanks to the call.
Madelyn stood a foot back in yellow pajamas leveling a gun at me, "try it and see what happens ghost," her voice murderous, not that that was a surprise, I was threatening her family after all. I already knew from her profile that the woman had skills, of course she wasn't alone in that area. With a speed no normal human could equal my tail shot out and knocked the gun from her hand, sending it sailing across the floor. At the same time I force myself to stand and leapt over Jack who was still on the ground and made a dash for the door. I kept my stalk eyes divided between the pair as I run intent on not being sucker punched again and was a bit shocked but what I saw. In the blink of an eye, on bands on both Madelyn and Jack's wrists came to life and formed guns that fired nearly simultaneously. As fast as I was I couldn't avoid getting stuck in the crossfire. I was lucky the weapons were designed to work on ghosts so they didn't do much damage, the impact hurt but wouldn't kill me, and it did help with the question of how to get the door open as I was forced through it. If it had been and Yeerk dracon beam there wouldn't have been enough of me to hit the door.
The landing wasn't my best I'll admit that, for some reason today I had a thing about landing face first on the ground. It only took a second to get to my feet and run as fast as I could, my stalk eyes locked on the scene behind me as Madelyn came busting out the door, and continued to fire at me while shouting things about ghosts and telling Jack to keep their kids in the house.
Between the energy blasts and his yelling I knew we were going to draw a crowd and hung a sharp right into an alley and used a near by trash can to leap the fence and put a little distance between the two of us and focused on demorphing. By the time she had caught up with me the 'ghost' was gone and a red-tail was on the roof above her shaking his head. She stayed in the area for a few minutes trying to find me, but didn't come up with anything, and walked back to her house.
(Well brilliant plan number two down the crapper, back to plan number one,) sighing internally as I absently preened my feathers on the roof, unwilling to fly at night, my eyes occasionally being drawn to the lit windows of the Fenton home, and of the silhouette of Jasmine. (I was really hoping I could do this without using you.) I watched the house for about half an hour before ruffling my feathers and getting a little more sleep while it was still dark out.
When first light came I yawned and stretched my wings my vision still locked on the Fenton home. I waited out the clock till Jasmine came out and got in her car, her brother in tow and drove to school, myself overhead, enjoying the morning thermals as much as possible since I'd be spending most of the day in a cramped air vent. All to soon my time came to an end as she pulled into the parking lot and the pair walked into the building and I was forced to land on the roof of the school and go through the same routine I had the day before to get in and find her. Luckily this time I had her scent and knew part of the lay out and was able to avoid the some of the major pit falls.
It only took a few minutes to track her down this time, in what appeared to be an English class. I was greet by the same sight I received yesterday, her sitting down, listening not talking to anyone except to answer questions about the book or story they had to read, but the girl was obviously too smart for her own good.
"Its obvious by the brief flash backs to his childhood that he was abused, the mention of the poker hitting the fire in the third chapter, combined with his fathers anger though out the story is really a loosely hidden alleviation to his father's abuse of him with the poker or something similar, that or Freudian slip of sorts and it actually refers to the authors relation ship with his own father."
That little explanation was greeted by blank faces all around, including the teacher. Yep the girl was brilliant, but a little weird, even for me.
It became pretty clear after a while that class was not the place to observe this girl so I crept back down the vent and did a quick change and came back less than a minute later in my anole body and slipped through the vent positioned myself over her head and waited for my time to come. When the bell rang, I once more had to fight to keep a reign on the lizards instincts to run and followed her from above, doing my best to make sense of the colors around me and not draw attention to myself. Not for the first time I remembered why I hated body's that climbed ceilings, I hated being upside down. For some reason if I was flying I as fine since I knew I could always recover, but hanging by my toes made me crazy because I knew if I slipped there would be no recovery, just the inevitable impact with the ground.
Unfortunately the hallway wasn't much different from the class room, she did have a few words with a couple of girls near her locker. But it was obvious she wasn't the most popular person there as they blew her off in that catty way teenage girls do that sounds sincere on the surface but is really a slap in the face. Yeah I was really glad I dropped out of high school. Two hallways later she managed to pull away from me, I nearly gave myself a stroke trying to follow her but I managed to catch up with her as she stopped and traded a few words with her brother.
In a soft voice full with a hint of concern, "I hope that thing doesn't show up at school," I gathered they were talking about me.
He shifted his weight a little and I tasted a scent coming off his body that I recognized as fear, "and why," his voice rising slightly, "would that happen?"
"Why does anything attack us," a small smile on her lips as she looked intently at her brother.
"Uh, got me…," the smell of fear rising further off him as he started to squirm and slightly shift his vision, "SAM," he finally let out as he bypassed his sister and took off after the goth girl.
Shaking her head slightly and pulling the backpack strap closer to her body, she whispered, "be careful little brother," and walked on to her next class as I did my best to follow her.
The next class proceeded pretty much like the previous, and so did the classes that proceeded it. Half way through the last class I bailed, I wasn't learning anything I hadn't the day before, and it'd been two days since I last ate and my stomach couldn't wait any longer.
It only took a few minutes to escape and for me to be back in my real body soaring over the city, letting the wind in my face forcing back the hunger and aggravation I was feeling at the situation. An entire day and all I learned was that her brother might be the closet person she had a relationship with, not that I couldn't relate after a fashion, after all my closest friend on the planet was a metal dog.
At that thought I let I opened my beak, "TEEEEESSRRR," the call of the hawk, the sound of death's approach as I forced the feeling of pity out of my mind and let myself get lost in the joy of being a hawk. I needed to rise with the thermals for a while, to soar high into the sky and look down on everyone else, to remind myself that life was still good, and no matter how this went down, no one could ever take this from me. I soared and swooped for almost an hour till the call of food was to much to ignore and I turned my attention to the ground and the promise of filling my stomach.
It was to late in the day and I was to tired to go after a mouse so I decided for something a little more high tech, buying food. I circled for a few minutes hoping to find a restaurant chain I knew and came up with squat, and ended up choosing between a gas station and a place called Nasty Burger. I don't know who the hell named it Nasty Burger, and I didn't want to know, but judging by the cars in the parking lot, it had to at least be edible, which was more than I could probably say for the gas station food.
I let myself come to a rest in an alley about a block from the Nasty Burger and focused on a form near and dear to me, my own human body. First the sensation of growing taller came over me followed by my feather adhering to my body and running together to form clothing. My claws receded while my back toe swung around to the front and split in two as they turned into human feet, then socks and shoes. I focused on my beak softened on my face forming a mouth, my eyes shifted from gold to blue, and my feather became hair, while the rest of body took on it's correct proportions and form. By the time I was done I look like any other fifteen year old, at least that's how old I though my body was, I'd acquired my when I was on the mid months almost late months of being fourteen, and I guessed enough time had passed since my return by The Ellimist that I was now in my early maybe even mid mouths of my fifteenth year. I was dress in a brown shit with a picture of a red tail on it, it was s little ironic but I liked it, blue jeans, tennis shoes and a beat up brown jacket. The jacket came in contact with my now long hair held together in a lose pony tail that extended a little past my neck, and I had no intention of wasting money to get it cut.
As usual the first thing I did was set the timer on the custom watch Nikki had given me, for some reason being human always messed up my sense of time, and hour fifty after it was turned on it would beep giving me a nice window to find a place to demorph before I could get trapped in my old body. Doing a quick check I found my wallet in the jacket, and not for the first time, was grateful Nikki was kind enough to share the money the Chee had acuminated over the years with me. Running my fingers through the bills I grabbed a twenty and slipped into my pants and put the wallet back in it's spot and headed down to see what nightmare I was walking into.
There was always something weird about being human again, something familiar yet alien, and a it's a little unnerving. Going from a form that can fly or fight to a body that's half blind, nearly deaf, and without any form of natural defense was maddening for my hawk mind, and a little for the human side of me too. Every time I change I have the same thought, 'if it wasn't for our brains, humans would just be another prey animal,' and that's really kind of sad for the dominate species on a planet.
Shaking off the thoughts I walked out of the alley and tried to focus on the path in front of me and tried not to look to out of the ordinary, something that wasn't easy considering I had a look of intense concentration on my face. It wasn't something I consciously did, it was just something that happened. I'd been a hawk so long I'd mostly forgotten how to make facial expressions and as a result my face mostly resembled the expression of a hawk. Not that that was a bad thing, if someone bothered me I just had to turn my attention to them and most would move on real quick fearing what I might do.
A few seconds later I pushed the door to the Nasty Burger open and was greeted by the scent of grease and felt my mouth fill with saliva. A quick skim of the board and realized this was just like every other burger joint so I made my order, two nasty burgers with cheese and a bottle of water, grabbed my food and left. Of course I had a good reason to leave, the smell of food was having a bad effect on me, one I had only seen from one other person, Ax. Andalites have no taste buds as humans think of them, so when we introduced him to food, or more exactly his human morph, he went a little crazy and tried to eat everything he could get his hands on, including but not limited to cinnamon buns, pizza boxes, and cigarette butts out of convenient ash trays. And unfortunately ever since I regained my human form, I found myself becoming like him. It was no where near as bad, but every so often I'd go a little crazy and try and stuff anything that I might have eating into my mouth at once and if that happened here I didn't really need the audience.
Thankfully my flight over had already revealed a few things to me about the lay out of the town, including a little park near by that should provide relative privacy. It only took a few minutes to walk, and as I had hoped was more on less deserted at the time. I parked myself on a bench and pulled out a nasty burger and started eating, trying to keep the urge to scarf the food down in check. I had to admit inspire of the name they made good food, then again considering how hungry I was anything might have tasted good. After I polished off the first I moved onto the second and quickly realized I was being watched, and not just by anything, but by one of the most detestable creatures on earth.
Pigeons
Pigeons are to birds what sewer rats are to mammals, no wait, rats actually serve a purpose. Pigeons do nothing but eat, sit on statues or buildings looking for food, circle garbage dumps looking for anything edible and bother people hoping for scraps. Did I mention all they do is eat? As it is, the only thing redeeming about the wastes of feathers is that you can eat them, and of course they try to avoid that, not that it's stopped me from killing more than my fair share.
The little gray and brown buggers just stood on the tree watching me eat, waiting for any chance they got to grab a free meal.
"Not today boys," I half growled as I started eating faster just to spite the scavengers. A few minutes later the burger was gone and I was scanning the inside of the wrapper to make sure I got every scrap of food off it. "Go bother someone else vermin," looking at the gathered masses, "your out of luck this time," as I walked over to the garbage can and tossed the very clean wrappers away, a hint of a smile on my mouth.
I still had my water to go finish off and didn't feel like sitting so I stretched out of the table since I didn't see anyone in a hurry to take it. For a while I just watched the sky above me as I sipped water from the bottle and tried to figure out what to do.
"Maybe I should work the brother," my words barley audible, "he does seem more open and I know he knows the lay out of the lab." Slipping my arm under my head, "but that still means getting around his friends, and I don't think that's going to be easy. I could try the manual thing again, just have to be more aware," closing my eyes. "I can't believe I was that stupid, I'm better than that, I should heard him coming, hell I should have had a better plan than that to beginning with. Face facts Toby you have not been playing with your full tail for a while, you got lazy with the last three times, this is a different monster, and you have to be on top of it or it's eat you alive." Stretching my back slightly, "Your only going to get one shot at this, one shot at her, you can't throw this away, your so close, so get it together and get it done."
"Excuse me?"
At the sound of the voice I probably jump three feet in the air hit the concrete table, rolled off straight into the equally concrete bench and then onto the ground.
Before I knew it the source of the voice was at my side, "are you ok, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen…"
It was about then that I recognized the voice as I looked into the worried face of Jasmine Fenton, a few strands of her red hair in her face as she helped me up and onto the bench. Rubbing the back of my head where it had connected with the table, "I'm ok, I think," groaning a little in spite of myself.
Sitting next to me, "are you sure," genuine concern in her voice.
"Trust me I've had worse," rolling my right shoulder, "to what do I owe the wake up call?"
"I just wanted to make sure you were ok, you were talking to yourself," the wariness evident on her face.
Crap, how much did hear, how much trouble am I in? Trying to cover my butt, "you never talk to yourself?" the comment coming out more sarcastic than I originally planed.
Defensively, "that wasn't talking, you were grunting and growling," jumping to her feet, "and I just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt."
Grabbing her hand as tried to storm off, "whoa, whoa," was all I got out before she tore her hand away and faced me.
Without an once of fear in her voice, "try it and I'll scream," her eyes locked on mine, daring me to try something.
My eyes went wide at the look and a cold chill ran up my spine as I realized I had this girl pegged all wrong. Raising my hand in defense, "ok we're obviously on different pages here," the fear in my voice genuine, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, a face plant onto stone substitute kinda puts me in a bad mood, I didn't mean to snap at you."
She studied me for a second, obviously trying to figure out if I was sincere, "no I'm sorry I shouldn't have snuck up on you," her tone cautious, but her face softened.
"Not a problem, I kinda got sucked into my own little world there for a second," a nervous laugh in my voice.
Cocking her head a little to the side, "I could tell, anything particular?"
Whoa, we were nearly at each others thoughts a second ago and now she's trying to analyze me, how did I miss this? "This and that, I'm Tobias by the way," trying to break the ice and steer the conversation away from me.
"I'm Jazz," as she walked past me and sat down on the bench.
Joining her "I'm guessing that's short for Jasmine or your parents really like music," mentally slapping myself for the pitiful joke.
Surprisingly she laughed a little, "it's been a while since I heard that one," moving some hair from her face, "and it's just Jazz, I hate being called Jasmine."
"Jazz it is then," I grasped for something else to say but nothing came and we sat in silence for a few moments.
"I know I don't know everyone, but you don't go to Casper High do you?"
Scrambling for something to say, "not currently no."
"Currently?" getting a serious look on her face, her eyes shining with curiosity.
"I may or may not," not sure where this was going and saying whatever popped to mind, "my parents are looking at a home here."
"Really," leaning back slightly, then in a hushed tone, "they do know about this town right?'
"The beautiful surroundings, good property deals, the ghosts?" mentally back handing myself for what sounded like a pickup line.
I wasn't sure if it was the first or third comment but she blushed a little then composed herself, "the ghost problem in this city is very real."
"I'll take you word for it," and idea forming, "sounds a little to tabloid for me."
"Trust me ghosts are very real," her voice deadly serious.
"And you know this how?" mentally crossing my fingers and hoping my gambit worked.
"I've seen more than my share, and lets leave it at that," her body language growing cold.
And just like that my in was gone before it had developed. Sighing and hanging my head a little, we sat in cold anonymity not acknowledging each other. "I guess it's not a stretch," unlike before this time I had no ulterior motive, "I mean there's a lot of things no one understands, so I guess ghosts aren't out of the realm of possibility."
"They are very real," her gaze still looking straight ahead, her voice slightly distant as if remembering something she didn't want to, kind of like the other had those few times we had to tell other people about the war with the Yeerks, and told them of the horrors we had committed. "If you live here, you will have to deal with them, and that is a very bad thing, because they are very dangerous."
"How dangerous?" I tried to control my voice and not make it sound to eager, trying to keep a hint of disbelief in it, hoping the hawk like gaze of concentration was appropriate.
"Enough for me to tell you to leave and not come back," her eyes finally meeting mine again. Behind her blue eyes was a look of pain, and a silent plea for me to drop it.
"That's not going to happen," leaning back, a wariness in my voice as I briefly showed my age, "I get the feeling they want to stick around," adding as an after thought, "it's a money thing."
She gave me a quizzical look for a few moment then shook her head in disgust, "it almost always is."
A few minutes passed and I took a few more sips of water, the bottle somehow not spilling a single drop despite my fall, the feeling of tension in the air had lessened but not by much. "So when do you have to get back to your parent?" the question coming out of the blue.
"Whenever I feel like it," the words coming out a bit angrier than I had intended as I glanced at her.
The second I said it hers eyes lit up, "problems at home?"
Waving my hand, "just stress," not a complete lie, "been traveling a few days now, and nothing seems to be going quite right and I just wanted to get away for a little while."
She hummed slightly at the comment, probably filing it away for a later date, "so how much of Amity Park have you seen."
"Not much, mostly just here and the Nasty Burger, still don't believe they actually have a place called that."
She laughed a little at that, "I said the same thing years ago," she leaned back on the table, her body relaxing, "the NB's history is long and complex, to complex for me to try and explain, lets just say it's been part of Amity Park since before I was born and will be long after I'm dead." Pushing off the table and offering me a hand, "so how about a tour?"
I hind of disbelief in my voice, "your willing to give a complete stranger you just met, and possibly gave a concussion to, a tour?"
"Sure, it's kinda my job" a weird little smile on her lips that seemed to be more for show that serenity.
"Your job is to give possible new residents tours?" I mentally slapped myself up side the head again for that one, I was starting to sound way to much like Marco.
"My family is a little eccentric," shifting her gaze and seemingly aging in front of me, "so it's up to me to be the normal one," her youth returning, "you'll hear all about them soon enough if you move here."
Side by side we started walking out of the park, "I'll have to take your word on that," my tone somewhere between sarcastic and joking.
"Meaning?" her interest peaked.
"Lets just say I know more than a little about having a weird family."
"I'll remind you that if we drive by family's house," a knowing smile on her lips as walked to her car.
Pulling open the door on the car and looking over at her I couldn't help but wonder what weird convergence of fate and luck had done this. Earlier I was on the verge of giving up on her, now the very person I was trying to get close to was offering me a ride in her car. Of course this was the easy part, the hard part was still to come, and I had the feeling things were going to get weirder the closer I tried to get to this family.
And thus we come to the end of chapter 2, still no ghosts, but I think I have get every main charter except Mr. Lancer into chapter.
Please R&R