-1A/N: So, story is, I left for a month on vacay, came back, my computer's dead. So I'm a friend's to bring you the third chapter of SONG. I typed this rather quickly, so please excuse all the errors.

And everyone thank Brandon, who emailed me to get off my ass and continue the story.

Disclaimer: Still not mine. Still KA Applegate's. Still own Shane. Still broke.

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For the next few minutes, they stood silently. Shane wanted to say something, anything, but one of those stalk eyes was continuously focused on him, and he didn't want the centaur to think he was a threat.

Finally, a brunet and a tall, blonde girl entered from the other side of the barn, their faces grim as well.

"Hey guys, Marco can't make it. He's with his dad right now." the brunet said by way of greeting.

The tall blonde stalked right up to Shane and grabbed his shirtfront. He reflexively gripped her hand, but didn't do anything else.

"Who are you?" she demanded, staring him down. The black girl pulled her away gently, but her gaze wasn't any softer.

"Relax, Rachel. He might just be a normal boy-"

"Or he could be a Controller." the brunet added softly. This thought seemed to make them all uneasy.

Shane looked at them and decided he better explain himself. "Look, I'm new in town, and I kind of got lost and ran out of gas. I was just looking for a gas station, honest. If you let me go, I swear I won't say a word about your friend." he pleaded, looking at each of them in turn. All of them looked towards the boy, who sighed.

"We can't do anything until Tob-"

(Here I am, Jake.)

(Sorry, guys, one of those stupid falcons was going after me again.) Shane looked up as a brown, largish bird swooped in, settling itself on one of the rafters.

"Hey, I know you. You're the hawk that was in my yard this morning." he exclaimed, pointing at the bird. It fixed him with a cold stare.

(I saw this kid this morning. He lives a couple houses down from Marco.) the hawk, Tob-something said.

Shane was having a hard time with this. He just talked to a hawk. It talked back. There was an alien behind him. And a bunch of kids who were all younger than him were going to kidnap him.

He sat down. Hard.

"This is not cool. What's going on?" he asked. No one was listening.

"We could lock him in the shed. That's worked before." 'Rachel' was saying.

'Cassie' shook her head.

"We can't do that. We don't know for sure if he's a Controller…" she countered.

"But we don't know for sure he isn't." 'Jake' replied, throwing him an unreadable look.

(Cassie's right, though, guys. We can't just leave a possibly innocent kid in a shack for three days. He'll be missed.) the hawk chimed in, not sounding at all worried about Shane's health.

Jake turned to the centaur.

"Ax, what do you think?"

(I will follow your lead, Prince Jake.)

"Don't call me that."

"So what, we just follow him for three days?! I don't have time to babysit."

"It's the only way."

Shane buried his face in his arms and closed his eyes, trying not to listen. This was not happening, but damn this dream was realistic.

(I can watch him today and Sunday.) Tobias said, shaking out a wing.

"If I could stay with him tonight, and Marco tomorrow night -"

"But what about school Monday?"

"Ax, can you and Tobias watch the school?"

(Yes, Prince Jake.)

"There. We're set."

Rachel glared at him, but Shane pretended not to see it.

"Tobias, you'd better morph."

The hawk said nothing, but fluttered down to the floor. Shane watched him, wondering what was going on.

For a moment, he just sat there. Then, suddenly, he rapidly began growing. Shane knew he should probably look away, but he couldn't.

As Tobias grew, the feathers began melting together like hot crayons and smoothing out. Then, the wicked, dangerous-looking beak retracted, leaving behind it a pair of human lips. The wings narrowed, lengthened, and the feathers disappeared, as if they were hot wax.

It was disgusting, gruesome. He could hear bending, snapping, growing. A squishing sound came from Tobias's stomach, the sound of organs being replaced, removed, added. Human eyes replaced hawk's. Hair began to sprout from the bald head. Pale, skinny sticks grew new hands and fingers.

It probably only took a minute. It seemed like a lifetime.

Eventually, Tobias stopped changing, and in his place, a teenage boy stood. He was shortish and skinny, with hair that fell into his face. His eyes were a shade of brown, and they held the sharp intensity of the hawk's still.

Cassie disappeared and came back with a can of gasoline, which she passed to Shane without a word. He, Tobias, and Ax took off towards Shane's abandoned vehicle silently, Ax's deadly tail still posed to strike and Tobias's predatory eyes watching him from his peripheral.

The woods were foreboding now in the lack of noise. Once they reached his truck, Ax took off without a word and Tobias waited silently as Shane filled the gas tank and started the truck. He hopped in the passenger's side, and proceeded to stare out the window as Shane drove.

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A/N: Soo, there it is. Please remember to review and tell me what you think! I do love my reviews, and as Brandon found out, they do tend to motivate me :D