When school had ended on Friday afternoon she knew what day of the week it was from her habit of asking Cassie when she inevitably lost track of time Shara looked down into the main area of the barn and saw the other Animorphs making their way inside. At least, the ones whod been at school in the first place were. Tobias had just flown in through the window, and she turned to wave at him, wondering all the while if Ax would be showing up soon.

(Hey, Shara,) the hawk said, dipping a wing to her even as he canceled his momentum in order to perch on the high rafters of the barn.

"Hey, Tobias," she greeted, waving back.

Clambering down the ladder, with Slade not far behind, she quickly joined up with her fellow Animorphs.

"Marcos found something we can use," Jake said, nodding to her and Slade as they took their seats on a nearby hay-bale.

"Right," the other boy said, drawing the attention of all of the Animorphs. "The good news is, I know the location the Web Access America headquarters. The bad news is, its not anywhere nearby; not even close enough for us to get to in morph without being trapped. But, I have found a way for us to get there."

"How?" Shara asked, turning to fix Marco with a curious stare; while it was true that there were other ways for them to get where they were all trying to go, those ways might risk compromising the anonymity that most of the Animorphs relied upon to keep themselves safe.

"Well, theres a lot of planes going out that way," he said.

"You think we should try to catch a ride on a plane?" she asked, raising a disbelieving eyebrow. "Wouldnt that be too much of a risk for the secrecy that you seem to want us to maintain?"

"Since when did I say that we were going to try to catch the plane as humans?" Marco asked, cocking his head.

"Youre suggesting we go in morph, then? That makes sense," Shara said, nodding. "Which one?"

"Flies," Marco said calmly.

"And, what about those of us who dont have fly morphs, hmm?" she asked, tilting her head slightly; no one ever really seemed to think of her and Slade when they were making all these big plans.

It was kind of troublesome, and all the more so since she didnt really want to think of it that way. She was annoyed with them, sometimes, and other times she was annoyed that she became annoyed by things like that.

"Cmon," Marco smirked, obviously trying to be cajoling. "With all of the animal poop in here, you guysll have your very own fly morphs before you know it."

"Marcos actually right, for once," Rachel said, as the boy in question stuck his tongue out at her. "This place is pretty much Grand Central Station, as far as flies are concerned. You two shouldnt have a problem getting the right morphs for this job."

"I think I might even be able to find a cockroach that the two of you can acquire," Cassie said, smiling.

"Good," Slade said calmly.

"Kind of gross to think about, but at least we wont be stuck behind on the next mission just because we dont have the right morph," she said, making herself more comfortable on the hay-bale where she sat.

(I have to pick up a fly morph, too,) Tobias said, sounding like he was speaking for his own benefit rather than anyone elses.

"You could use a roach, too, couldnt you?" Shara asked, tilting her head slightly in the hawks direction.

(No. I acquired one of those awhile ago,) Tobias gave a shudder of distaste; a remarkably human reaction. (Its incredibly gross when I have to use it, but Im still glad I have it. Sort of, anyway.)

Shara laughed; that was pretty much what she had been thinking. Bugs, on the whole, were gross. Still, it wasnt like she couldnt see the advantages inherent in being so small. It would make it harder for their respective enemies to find them, at least.

Also, there was the fact that being in morph seemed to blunt the sense she always had of Darkon, so that was another good reason to acquire as many as she could. It also seemed to work the same way for the sense she had of where Slade was at any given moment; she didnt know quite how to react to that fact. On the one hand, the sense the had of Slade was obviously related to the one that she had of Darkons whereabouts, so in that way it was skin-crawlingly creepy to have it at times.

On the other, of course, was the fact that she didnt like to lose track of her brother; Slade had been through a lot more than she had at the hands of the Radam, even though he didnt remember any of it.

"So, after we all get up to snuff as far as morphs are concerned, when will we leave on this mission of ours?" she asked.

"Tomorrow," Jake said, as all of the others nodded. "The rest of us will need to have enough time off from school to carry this out."

"Makes sense," she said, leaning back on her hands and crossing her legs at the ankles; she honestly couldnt believe she was even thinking it, but she was starting to miss school.

Or not school, per se, so much as the normality that it and everything like it represented; normality seemed to be in short supply, lately.

"All right," Marco said, rubbing his hands together with overblown enthusiasm. "Now that weve covered just exactly how were all going to try and get ourselves killed this Saturday, lets all get home and get lots of sleep. We wouldnt want to die tired, after all," he continued with a wink.

Snatching a dirt-clod up off the floor, Shara pitched it at the back of Marcos head with a gentle, under-hand throw that would see it splattered all over the boys hair without actually hurting him.

XXX

"Hey!" Marco exclaimed, and Jake saw Rachel give Shara an approving look.

"All right," he said, before any more shenanigans could be instigated. "Lets all get home. Like Marco said, tomorrow is going to be a busy day for all of us."

"Sure, take her side," Marco muttered, but he was smirking and starting to morph as he said it, so Jake didnt take his grumbling seriously.

Once he and the others the ones who werent living in Cassies barn, at least had all finished their transition into their bird forms, Jake joined them in their running take-offs. He knew that there would be plenty for them all to do, once this day was over and the time for their mission had come, but he also knew that if he thought about it too much, he would begin to think of all the things that could go wrong.

All the ways that he could make the wrong decision, and then have something terrible happen to one of the others. Even Slade and Shara, as powerful as they were, could suffer for his mistakes. He didnt want any of his friends his people to suffer, but he also knew the dangers of paranoia.

This was meant to be a simple information-gathering outing; to see if they really did have allies against the Yeerks, allies who they would have to tell about the Radam, or if they were sniffing at the edges of a clever trap.