School on Monday was pretty normal—quiz in first period, sub in third, lunch. An evil alien invader burst in during sixth period, but she left peacefully after asking for bake sale volunteers.
Daria, Jodie, Upchuck and I met at the bus stop after school. For a while we thought Quinn was going to skip out on us, but she showed up just in time to avoid missing the bus. She had a sour and slightly green look on her face.
We spent most of the ride in silence. I had become as paranoid as Daria—I kept glancing around at the other passengers, wondering if any of them could secretly be Controllers trying to eavesdrop. Finally I took out my notebook and began to doodle as best I could. Daria glanced over my shoulder.
"Lions…tigers…bears. Oh my. Thinking about what you want?"
"Sort of," I admitted. I glanced back a seat, where Jodie was talking with Quinn about fashion just to keep her calm. "This is so weird, isn't it? I keep trying to decide what animal I want to turn into, then stop and realize what the hell, I'm trying to decide what animal I want to turn into?"
"You're freaked out? At least you've done this before."
"Yeah. You and Quinn aren't even full-fledged Animorphs yet."
"'Animorph?' …No. I'll risk my life to save Trent, but I draw the line at picking a team name."
"I like it!" Upchuck called from the seat in front of us. Daria kicked it in response.
A few minutes later we were paying at the ticket line. "Now, you're sure there's not going to be a problem getting us around?" Jodie asked for the third time as Upchuck led us in.
"Not a problem in the world, my toothsome teammate. …Well, probably. If we run into security, I'll just say I'm here to see my mother. And given the time" he glanced at his watch "we'll have just missed her. The perfect plausible deniability!"
"And if someone questions why you're bringing four other people to see your mom?" I wondered, arching an eyebrow.
"…Then I say that you all were just really excited to see the animals and they'll kick us out. And my mom will probably ground me."
"Excited. We can fake that, right Daria?"
"Sure. Go animals, rah-rah-rah."
We followed Upchuck to the back of the otter exhibit, where there was an inconspicuous door built into the artificial cliff. He held it open and bowed as the rest of us entered.
Inside was a long corridor with dirty white walls and numbered doors on both sides. It could have passed for a school hallway, except for the absence of lockers and an unpleasant musty smell.
"First stop is my mom's office," Upchuck mumbled as he led us down the hall. "If we're lucky, it should be empty…" He poked his head into one room, then motioned to us. "All clear."
We entered what looked like a doctor's office, except that aside from desks and an examination table there were also animal cages placed along the walls. Several bird cages were set on one table, and on the floor beside them, a wolf in a larger cage that nevertheless looked cramped.
There was also a pair of skunks on the counter. We gave them wide berth.
"Ah, aren't we lucky today!" Upchuck crowed as Jodie and I examined the birds, which squawked and batted their bandaged wings at us. "The zoo also takes in some wounded animals from the state park. Some of Lawndale's more local residents."
"That might be good, for birds at least," Jodie said thoughtfully, reaching through the bars to stroke a golden-brown falcon. "We'd probably be noticed flying around town as parrots."
Quinn looked up from the floor and spoke for the first time since we'd arrived, pointing at the largest bird. "Isn't that a bald eagle?"
"I believe so," Upchuck said. "And Jodie's friend here is a…peregrine falcon, I believe…the fasted animal in nature! In a dive, at least. And here we have another osprey, and I believe this poor creature is a red-tailed hawk."
Jodie had closed her eyes, her hand still on the peregrine falcon's feathers. For a moment the bird stopped moving, staring off into space. Quinn frowned.
"But wait—why would we want to turn into sick animals?"
Daria sounded exasperated. "It's DNA, remember? It's like Jane's ears—unless one of these has a genetic disorder we should be fine."
I looked at the red-tailed hawk; it was standing on one leg, the other one ending at the knee. I frowned, reaching in to touch its wing; it went quiet like Jodie's.
Daria glanced nervously over at me. "So, what? We just touch them?"
"Touch them and concentrate," Jodie said simply. She removed her hand from the falcon; it remained frozen for a few seconds before moving again. "It seems to put them into some kind of a trance," she noted. "Even my fish stopped flopping around in my hands when I acquired it."
Daria and Quinn exchanged a reluctant glance, then reached into the last two changes. The eagle didn't seem to want Quinn to touch it. "Ugh! It's not working!"
"Just be gentle," Jodie said. "It's probably afraid to let you touch its wing—try its head."
"It'll peck me!"
Daria had already finished acquiring the osprey before Quinn finally managed to get the eagle calm. She glanced over at the wolf. "Should one of us acquire that?"
"Seems like a good idea," Jodie said. "…So who wants to?"
"It's in a cage," I noted, motioning to its bandaged leg. "And I don't think it can move around enough to bite anyone."
Daria made a face, but then bent down and slowly reached for the wolf's side. It growled and watched her with wary eyes, but remained lying.
"Good boy…good boy…"
"Good girl, actually. I think," Upchuck murmured. "A male would be larger. But it's hard to tell without."
"Upchuck? Stop talking." Daria grumbled, looking slightly pale.
We left the vet's office and headed down another hall. "Where to next?"
Upchuck opened his mouth to speak when I heard a whirring sound. He jumped as what looked like a golf cart appeared around the corner, driven by two middle-aged women in lab coats. The back of the cart was filled with sloshing buckets of I-don't-want-to-know-what. One of the women leaned out.
"Hey, you're Chuck, aren't you? Noreen's kid? Ha, haven't seen you in forever!"
Upchuck gave a little bow and a wave. "Lovely to see you again, Mrs. Sanders," he said, his tone as teasing as ever. The two women giggled to each other as they drove by.
Jodie exhaled. "That was close."
Upchuck dropped his unctuous smile. "We should be alright as long as we don't run into security," he muttered. "Now, let's see, what exhibits are we…aha!" He headed down a side corridor. "Big Marco."
"Pardon?"
"The zoo's new gorilla." He was grinning again as he pointed to a door. "The perfect fighting morph, really. Strong enough to tear somebody's head off if it wanted to, but docile enough to acquire without any risk."
"Ewww! I don't want to turn into any smelly monkey," Quinn said.
I smirked. "A smelly primate, eh? Why don't you take this one, Upchuck?"
He blinked, his pale face turning just a shade whiter. He cleared his throat. "Alright." He looked to the door, then back at us. "Do any of you have any food, perchance? Like some fruit?"
Jodie had an apple leftover from lunch, which Upchuck held tightly as he opened the door to the gorilla's pen. There was a second safety door behind it made of metal bars. Beyond it we could see an artificial rock formation that shielded us from the visitors' sight.
The gorilla, however, noticed us. He lumbered over, letting out soft snorting noses as he sniffed the air. Upchuck smiled nervously. The gorilla gave him a withering look before setting its eyes on the apple, which Upchuck held out through the bars.
The gorilla reached for the apple with its long arms—and they were long, with fingers that looked as thick as Upchuck's skinny arm. It took the apple with surprising gentleness, bringing it close to it face to examine. It didn't seem to even notice as Upchuck reached out to touch its arm.
"See? Simple," he said as Big Marco's eyes fluttered. A moment later Upchuck withdrew his hand and hastily closed the door.
"So that's a gorilla for you and a wolf for Daria," Jodie mused. "What else can we get?"
"There's plenty to choose from. What might you ladies be interested in?"
"Well, if I have to do this, and I'm still not saying I will, I want to turn into something cute," Quinn said. "How about a dolphin?"
"I don't think Flipper's going to be much use in a fight, Quinn."
"Well, this Yeerk place is a pool, right? So we need something that will be able to swim!"
"Quinn, we're not actually going to go in the pool." Jodie paused. "I think."
"The Yeerks probably all pee in it anyway."
Upchuck put his arm around Quinn's shoulder; she stiffened and stared at him in inaudible outrage, but he didn't seem to notice. "My dear, surely a vixen as…rrr, feisty as yourself would appreciate something more…majestic. Powerful and fierce, but also beautiful and intelligent—"
I opened my mouth to speak, but Jodie stepped on my foot. Upchuck snapped his fingers. "I know just the thing!"
"An elephant?"
"Loxodonta africana. The African bush elephant." Upchuck clearly expected us to be impressed. "Biggest land animal in the world! We're after firepower—baby, this is it!"
An elephant cautiously approached the doorway, which once again was hidden from zoo patrons by some clever landscaping. Its trink reached out to examine us, but it was too thick to fit through the bars. In fact I couldn't even see the elephant's whole body through the doorway—it was bizarre seeing something so big up close.
Quinn looked skeptical; Jodie gave her an encouraging smile. "This is a good choice for you. Like he said, it's majestic, and strong enough that not even one of those Hork-Bajir could take it down without a fight."
"I guess…"
Upchuck winked and patted the elephant's trunk through the bars. "See? She won't bite," he said, wheedling.
Quinn grimaced, then reached through the bars and touched the elephant's trunk. It took a moment for the creature to stay still—it kept poking and prodding at her hand—but eventually it grew calm. Quinn's face looked unreadable. "She is kind of beautiful, I guess."
"How can you tell it's a 'she?'"
"I'm not checking."
"So how long do I have to hold it before it's…acquitted or whatever?"
"Acquired. And now should be long enough," Jodie said. Quinn withdrew her hand slowly and Upchuck closed the door to the elephant's enclosure. "So that's three of us down, two to go. What other big morphs do we have?"
"The entire animal kingdom is your oyster, ladies." Upchuck crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "Any requests?"
"Well, I was thinking a rhino—but if we already have an elephant maybe we should diversify more? Do you have any ideas, Jane?"
I hesitated, thinking back to my earlier idea. "I don't know. A lion, maybe? Or a leopard? A panther? …Upchuck, what's the difference between a leopard and a panther?"
"Semantics. You see, in North America—"
"Hey! What are you kids doing back here?"
We spun around. An older man in a brown uniform was standing at the end of the hall, glaring at us.
Upchuck's face had suddenly gone very white and much less smug. "That's security," he squeaked.
"Okay, we need a cover story," Jodie whispered out of the corner of her mouth. "What do we—"
"RUN!"
For the first time since I'd met her, Quinn seemed to have the right idea. She, Daria, Upchuck and I took off.
"Hey! Get back here!"
The corridor formed a T up ahead of us. I heard Jodie jogging to catch up. "Split up! Like at the construction site!" she yelled.
Daria and I ran left; the others ran right. The path slanted downward before leveling off, where it got dark and narrow, giving the impression of an underground tunnel.
We ran for about fifty feet before Daria started panting. "Did we—lose him?"
"I think so," I said, slowing down. "That guy didn't look very fast, and he probably went the other way. We should be safe—"
"HEY!"
Two more guards appeared ahead of us. And then the original guard appeared behind us.
Daria groaned. "Unless he called for backup, of course."
All three guards were running toward us. I looked around wildly. We were right next to a door.
"This way!" I said, grabbing Daria by her wrist.
"What? Jane, we don't know where this—"
I ran out into the sunlight, slamming the door behind us. We were in a grassy field behind a cluster of trees—Daria and I ducked behind the nearest one, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Are they coming after us?" Daria asked, pressing her body against the bark.
I cautiously looked around the trunk. "No."
"Well, why not?"
"I don't know." I glanced around. "Look—people." I pointed to a ledge about a hundred feet away. It was about thirty feet up—apparently this exhibit was in some kind of large pit. "I don't think they can see us, though." All I saw was grass, bushes and a few birds. "Where are we?"
"Oh, now you stop the wonder."
"I don't see any animals…"
Daria was still panting; she sat down on the ground to rest.
Something growled.
We both froze.
"…Jane?"
"Yeah?"
"Please tell me I just sat on a peculiar mound of growling grass."
I looked, slowly. My head instantly shot forward again. "Nope. Not grass."
"Then please tell me it is a very large otter."
"It's a tiger."
She jumped. The tiger looked up at us. It growled again. It sprawled out lazily on the ground, and now looked somewhere between indifferent and irritated.
"…What do we do? Do we run? Or will that just make it attack us?"
"I don't know. It's lying down. It—okay, wait. We both acquired bird morphs, right? What if we fly away? That'll get us past the guards too."
"And if it attacks us while we're twisted, flightless monstrosities?"
"I don't—wait. Okay, I have an idea." I gave Daria a look. "Get ready."
"Ready for what?"
I swallowed and slowly bent to the ground, turning toward the tiger. I stared at me. It was definitely aggravated now. More than that it looked bored, but that only made me more nervous—I had a nasty feeling it knew that it could tear the two of us apart with very little effort. I had an unpleasant mental image of my cats playing with a dead rat they had found once.
I reached down and touched its side. Underneath the white, orange and black fur I could feel hard muscle tensing. I took a deep breath. After a moment the tiger did too.
Its eyes were closed. My hand tingled as I acquired it.
"Heh. Lady and the tiger, all in one package," I muttered.
"I hope that doesn't mean you're going to start ordering your pizza with entrails."
"Daria, start morphing."
"But—"
"Just do it!" I hissed through gritted teeth. The tiger still seemed calm; I prayed that this acquiring trance didn't have some kind of a time limit.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. A moment later she began to shrink, her face contorting outward into a beak. She made a horrified sound halfway between a moan and a squawk as her jacket bunched up around her.
((Jane? Can you hear this?))
"Yeah."
"Whoa. You sound loud. What about you?"
"I'm going to keep my hand on it while I start morphing. Then it should stay in a trance for a few seconds after we try to fly away."
((Can you do that? Morph while you're still acquiring?))
"Heh. Don't know. Let's find out."
The answer was no.
I was still shrinking when the tiger began to stir from its slumber. My hand—now more of a wing—was still on it its side, but the tiger suddenly drew away, snarling. Daria was fully bird now and flapped her wings in panic. I stumbled back, falling to the ground as my legs suddenly shrank and clawed talons appeared in my oversized sneakers.
((Quick, Jane! Finish!))
((I'm trying! I—))
The door to the habitat flew open. The security guards were led by a man in a lab coat, holding what I assumed to be a tranquilizer gun.
I cursed mentally. ((No time. Gotta fly now!))
((But we don't know how to—!))
((Just try!))
I was ninety percent bird now, but had to finish shrinking before I could feel my wings grab the air correctly. I wormed my way out of my normal clothes—the tiger suddenly leapt! I squawked instinctively and dove out of the way, finally managing to flutter off the ground—
((Whoa—whoa—!))
Daria and I rose higher into the sky as the zoo guards dodged the tiger, looking wildly around the pen for two teenage girls. I wondered vaguely what they would think when they found two piles of clothes and no half-eaten bodies, but could hardly focus on the issue as we flew out of the pit, hitting a sudden burst of warm air that sent us soaring up into the sky.
((Oh my—Jane, we're flying. We're flying, Jane!))
((Yeah.)) I laughed mentally—I could feel the warm air filling my wings, feel the wind fluttering through my feathers. We zoomed ten feet above the zoo patrons' heads, but we might as well have been right above them—my eyes were like telescopes, my ears could pick up every word of their conversations. It was incredible!
((How are we doing this?)) Daria wondered. ((How do we—I don't know, turn or whatever?))
((Bird brain.))
((Dunderhead.))
((No, I mean, it's like when I was a cat or a lizard—you have the animal's brain, so you have all its instincts. Just try not to think about it and the bird should do the flying for you.))
We flew around for another few minutes. Just when I was getting over the thrill and wondering what to do, Daria said ((Hey, look over there. To the right, by the reptile house.))
I spotted Jodie, Quinn and Upchuck, mingling with the crowd and trying to look inconspicuous. I pulled back but remained hovering in the air, letting the warm air lift me up higher. ((Hey, guys. Guys, over here.))
Quinn and Upchuck both jumped. I snickered. ((Up here. Daria and I are in bird morph.))
((No—don't look, it'll make you look suspicious!)) The three were already scanning the sky wildly for us. Jodie managed to spot us, though, and pointed us out to the others.
((You realize they don't have any way to respond to us, right?)) I asked.
((Hell, you're right. And what are we going to do? I was wearing that stupid morphing outfit under my clothes, and I think it morphed with me, but we can't go around the zoo dressed in leotards and tights.))
((Yeah.)) I focused my thoughts back on the others. ((Okay, listen—Daria and I don't have any reasonable clothes, so we're gonna have to fly home. Are you guys gonna be alright? Just—nod or shake your head.))
Jodie hesitated, then nodded, turning to Quinn so it would look less suspicious to onlookers. Daria turned to me.
((We're flying? All the way back to Lawndale?))
((Well…flying has to be faster than the bus, right? If we just follow the highway we should get there in plenty of time to avoid the two hour time limit..))
((You know, it would have been a lot easier just to let zoo security kick us out.))
((Oh, be quiet, bird-brain,)) I muttered, letting mine adjust my tail feathers as we swooped off toward the exit.
