When she entered the bathroom where they would all be morphing, Shara was hit by an intense waft of air-freshener. The stench was nasty, cloying, and stuck in her nose to an even greater degree than it had when shed been just an ordinary human.

"Lets just do this and get it over with," she groaned, trying not to inhale through her nose if she could help it. "The stench is making me nauseous."

"Come in here with me, sis," Rachel said kindly, leading her into a handicapped stall. "Ill help you if it turns out you need to throw up."

"Thanks," she said, not in any kind of mood to correct Rachel, or even to ask what the other girl had had in mind. "I think I just might have to."

The smell was thick and overpowering, and only by focusing her remaining attention on the hand Rachel had put on her left shoulder to guide her was Shara able to keep herself steady. She had always hated the scent of public restrooms, but this was a whole new reason to loathe them. Of all the senses to have enhanced; what would you even do with a better sense of smell, anyway? she groused.

"All right, I think we pulled that one off without a hitch," Rachel said, low and urgent and right in her ear. "But if were going to be able to meet up with the others, Im going to need you to focus. Do you thing you can do that, Shara?"

"Gah," she responded, fanning her hand in front of her nose with a sort of desperate urgency. "I dont think so. I thing I might honestly have to throw up," she admitted.

Rachels solution was as simple as it was unexpected; pinching Sharas nose shut, she turned a serious expression on the other girl. "Now, Shara, I need you to focus on that fly you acquired. You think you can manage that now?"

"If it gets you to let go of my nose, I will," she said, in the same low tone that Rachel had been using.

Closing her eyes and keeping her mouth open to breathe, Shara focused on the tiny little body of the fly that she had caught sometime yesterday. The first thing she noticed was that Rachel no longer seemed to have quite as good a grip on her nose as she had had before. Before she could ponder that too deeply, a strange feeling, something like an extreme feeling of dryness only without the itching that usually accompanied it came over every inch of her skin.

"I dont think you really want to open your eyes now, Shara," Rachel said, sounding a bit strange herself for some reason or other.

Deciding that satisfying her curiousity was more important than following some vague, cryptic advice even when it came from someone who she considered a friend Shara opened her eyes. Raising her hands into her line of sight, she was just in time to watch as two of her fingers curved forward into little claws, and her thumb and the rest of her fingers split up into sticky pads and an uncountable number of small, stiff hairs.

(Oh ick. This is really disgusting.) And it was, but it was also fascinating in its own way.

This was something that she had never experienced before; something that no Teknoman and precious few humans, for that matter had ever done in their lives.

(I know,) Rachel said, sounding honestly disgusted. (I hate morphing flies.)

(Well, I have to agree that theyre not my favorite thing in the world,) she said, watching as the morph progressed. (But this is something very few people get to do in their lives. That has to count for something, Id think.)

(Youre weird, Shara,) Rachel said, after what seemed like a pause to think.

(In more ways than you think, Rachel,) she retorted, finally getting the knack of using thought-speak rather than her telepathic powers for this morph.

(I guess I cant argue with that,) Rachel said, sounding amused. (Hey, Cassie? Are you done in there yet?)

(Yeah, Im finished,) the other girl said, and Shara saw, in that weird way the fly had of seeing, another fly buzz under the door of the stall and join up with them in the air.

It was kind of strange, when she thought about it, the way shed gone along so easily with the flys desire to be airborne when she usually isolated herself from the mind of the animal she was morphing except when she needed it for some specific task. Reflecting back on what had gone through her mind while shed been finishing her fly morph, she found that the flys desire for altitude had reflected some subconscious desire of hers.

Radam like she was now, although she still didnt like to think about it if they werent spending time within their sa- hidden bases underground, liked high places. Where they could survey the terrain and be protected from any kind of ambush. That, she realized, was why she felt so comfortable in the hayloft in spite of the fact and she was immensely grateful for this that it was nothing like a Radam base in any respect.

Even with the fact that it was obviously the Animorphs center of operations, she knew now that she would have been a lot more on-edge if shed been on the ground somewhere.

(All right,) Rachel said, taking the lead in their little trio of flies. (Lets go meet up with the guys.)

Buzzing out of the bathroom, having once again isolated herself from the fly mind sharing space with her own, Shara tried to get a feel for the eyes. They really werent very good, like Jake had said, but it still interesting to have to use them all the same. Colors were all neon-looking, and everything was pixilated all to hell, but those facts only made things more interesting.

She thought she could recognize a human now, in spite of the topsy-turvy colors, and the shattered-mirror eyes, but she wasnt entirely sure yet.

(Okay, this is cool,) she heard Tobias say, in the tone of someone who wasnt expecting to say anything of the sort. (Once you get past the fact that your own body makes you want to throw up.)

(Marco feels that way in his human body,) Rachel interjected gleefully.

They were hovering in the air, near something she wasnt sure she wanted to recognize, staring at five other flies. Or, what she was starting to realize was a flys way of seeing other flies. It wasnt so much that she recognized them with what could laughably be called her fly vision, oh no, this was more like recognizing people by scent. An odd concept, really, but she was starting to work out at least the basics.

(Oooh,) Marco said, in an overblown you-have-wounded-me tone. (Dont hurt me with the chakram of your wit, Xena.)

(Huh?) she joined the others in asking.

(Chakram,) Marco said, in an almost perfect mimicry of her brother Cains Im-talking-to-complete-idiots-here tone. (Its the metal Frisbee thing Xena throws. What are you people, cultural morons? Well, not that Id expect our three resident aliens to know, of course.)

(What do you mean, three?) Cassie asked, before Shara could ask that very question.

(Well, Ax, of course,) Marco said, stating the obvious with remarkable aplomb. (And Slade and Shara might as well be aliens.)

(I resemble that remark,) she said, wishing for a moment that they were both in human form so that she could flick him on the forehead, the way she did with her brothers at least, back when she had brothers.

(So, what now?) Tobias asked, drawing their attention back to the matters at hand before they could all go off on a tangent.

(Now we get on the plane,) Jake said. (But look, everyone be very careful out there. Use those fly instincts: something moves toward you, you get out of the way.)

(That goes for you, too, Jake,) she said.

(I can more or less see the gate,) Cassie said; if she really could, she had one-up on Shara herself, since all she could see was a pixilated blur of various colors and shades. (No, wait. I think it may just be the window. Thats going to be a problem: the gate doesnt have enough contrast between light and dark for us to see it clearly.)

(Get in close to a person,) Jake said, sounding like hed been thinking it over. (Stay with that person till youre in the walkway. We can figure the rest out from there.)

(Right,) she and Slade answered, almost at the same time; she made a concerted effort not to let that remind her of anything.

Tracking down a likely person, she landed in their thick, windblown hair, and let them carry her forward into the covered walkway that connected the jet to the terminal.

(Everyone here?) Jake asked, after a few interminable moments; she really didnt like being something with such a small, fragile, easily crushable body.

Maybe it was just her Radam-derived instincts acting up, but she was getting bad vibes from this whole thing. No one else seemed to be having any problems, though, so she probably wouldnt mention it. She would still be on alert, though; for all the good it would do her in this tiny, helpless morph of hers.