JAKE
So after all of our classes finished we left for the mall. With Rachel leading the way, as per
usual.
When we got there we saw the girl Tobias and Rachel had described. She was Tobias'
height, had short brown hair that sat just above shoulder length and pale skin- but it wasn't
white, white-pale, it was just white-pale. But what got me were her eyes. They were the
colour of the ocean on a calm day - blue, in every sense. But I'd never seen her before, yet I
was sure I had known her. She was dressed completely in black - black jeans and a black
midriff singlet top with little silver stars all over it.
She'd probably been here a while because she had a couple of The Gap shopping bags and a
plain black box. We walked up to her and she almost smiled.
"Thought you might show," she said.
"Well, you asked us to show," Tobias pointed out. This time Sera smiled. But it was a sad
smile and directed mainly at Tobias.
"I'm sorry for Zoe's death. But I guess it's kind of my fault," she said. "But you have to hear
what I want to say. Come to the park with me and if you still want to kill me or hand me over
to the police then you can after I talk to you." She sounded reasonable, and I didn't think it
would come to that at the end.
But Tobias on the other hand was fuming at what she had said. Sera looked desperate to
get us out of the mall and into the park. And Tobias' anger was only fueling her desperation.
"Look, Tobias. If I had the chance to do it all over again I would. The flight home, getting
shot down, dying, everything if I knew it would keep every single one of you safe," she hissed.
That caught our attention.
Suddenly I realized why her eyes looked familiar - they were Zoe's eyes. Sera was Zoë.
The others seemed to realize that as well. Now Sera, no Zoë, was desperate to get out of
here. Everyone followed her to the park and we sat down somewhere in the middle.
"How do we know you're Zoë?" Cassie asked cautiously.
"You don't," she said. She opened the black box she'd been carrying and took out a blond
wig and put it on. Then she extended her wrist. "I'm not Zoë physically. But I am her
mentally, as well as Sera. But from now on I'm Sera." On her wrist there was a scar on her
wrist that exactly matched the one Zoë had.
I realized that Rachel and Marco had been silent since we left the college grounds. But now
Rachel grabbed Sera/Zoe's wrist and looked at the scar.
"What happened?" she asked. "And what do we call you?"
Sera smiled a sad smile again. "You call me Sera, either that or you're going to end up
killing me. Anyway, long story short: I hate Crayak and I love the Ellimist."
"Why would we go and kill you. After all, you are a reborn version of our dead friend so it
kinda makes you like a zombie..."
"Marco," I warned him.
"What? I was leading up to a non-sexist, non-violent joke," he defended himself.
"What has this got to do with Crayak and the Ellimist?" Tobias asked her.
Sera pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. "Listen, later I can talk. But first I
need to know what you're going to do with me. I was going to re-enroll in college as Sera
but..." She let it hand there. Then she gasped. "Ohmygod, the Hork-Bajir," she said softly.
"How are they?"
"They're okay," I informed her. "And...we're not going to do anything. If you want to stay
and fight, then you can. Can you still morph?"
"I could if I'd acquired an animal," she said. "This is a new body with similar markings to my
old one and a completely new genetic DNA pattern. I don't have any morphs. I only had two
as Zoë anyway. Why?"
"Are you going to stay and fight?" Marco asked her.
"If I'm wanted," she said.
Cassie walked over and hugged her. "Believe me when I say you're wanted.
"Ok, I'll stay. But at this very moment I think I'll go visit the Hork-B. I'll catch you later."
She said as she walked away. She was still wearing the blond wig.
"Sera. Wig!" I called out. She got the idea and pulled off the wig.
"Hey, Sera. Was it worth it?" Rachel called out.
"Hell, yeah," came the far away sound answer. As she passed a bin, Sera threw away the
wig.
****************
SERA
I walked through the woods surrounding the Hork-Bajir valley I had known as home. It
would be a fairly long hike, but I had been dead for the past few days, so I had a fair bit of
energy to do things I wouldn't normally do. Before, if I left the valley, I flew in morph because
it's quicker and easier to find my way back.
Zoë. Tobias thought-speak voice filled my head and I jumped from sheer fright of being
caught of guard. It also made me lose what I'd been thinking.
You okay? Tobias was in red-tail hawk morph. He flew down and demorphed. "You
okay?"
"Uh, yeah. Of course." I tried to get rid of my shakiness.
"Then why are you going in the wrong direction. The Hork-Bajir live in the north-west of the
woods," he said.
"Well, I guess that's what I get for thinking too much," I said lightly. "Tobias, call me Sera.
Please," I looked down as I said it, and I said it quietly.
"You'll always be Zoë to me. No matter if you change your name or hair colour or
whatever."
I felt a tear form in my eye and I turned away. "So, uh, which was is north-west," I asked
him, sniffling.
"Zo...Sera."
"Don't, okay. Just don't."
I felt his hands slide around my waist and pull me closer to him and he held me tightly. And
I cried.
"Shh. It's okay," he said.
"No, it's not. Ok, you asked a question before and I didn't answer. Crayak killed me. Not
Visser One. I killed me. I made a deal with Crayak, to keep you all safe. And the Ellimist, he
brought me back. So it's not okay, okay?" I said all of this with sniffles and sobs in-between
words.
Tobias' grip on me slacked for a second, but he pulled me closer and hugged me tighter.
"Don't worry about it. We've all had run ins with Crayak," he said quietly. "No big deal. You're
here aren't you?"
****************
TOBIAS
I held Zoë...no, Sera. I held Sera while she cried. My guilt washed away when I saw how
much she felt. She'd made a decision that changed her life...okay, well, it killed her. But she
still made the choice for us.
And I still loved her.
She may not have realized that yet, but it is true. Regardless of her name. What's not to
love about someone who gives their own life for yours. And who said that they would do it
again for you.
She still looked gorgeous with brown hair. It wasn't much darker than her blond hair.
Although, her blond hair had been longer.
"Damn it. It's too dark. I can't get to the valley tonight," she said softly. I looked up and
realized it was too dark to walk through the woods without getting attacked by wild animals -
wolves, owls etc.
"We'll stay here. We'll just light a fire - which should scare most animals away. And I have a
couple of good morphs. I can morph it need be," I told her. She nodded. She gathered some
sticks together and some stones to keep the fire in one place. We were, after all, in the woods.
We didn't want to start a bushfire.
It wasn't a particularly cold night but it was cool enough that sitting in front of a fire was the
perfect temperature. Sera sat quietly. She'd stopped crying a short time and was now lost in
thought, like she had been when I'd caught up with her. I had to ask her something, and I
wasn't sure how she would take it.
"Sera. Can I ask you a personal question?" I asked her, softly so I didn't scare her again.
She lifted her face to look at me. "Shoot."
"Did you....did you love me?"
"Yes." She didn't hesitate, didn't think. She just answered. "I still do."
I got up and sat next to her and held her again.
"I'm sorry for what I put you through," she whispered.
I put my finger on her lips to quiet her. Then I kissed her. I couldn't help it, I guess. But,
hey, I'm a guy. She kissed me back and put her arms around my neck.
*************
2 DAYS LATER
"So...did Mister Ellimist give you a background in case someone gets suspicious?" I asked her,
as she, and the others, sat around a diner table at Rachel and Cassie's apartment.
She hesitated. "I actually already had this life before. A long time ago."
I'm sure everyone else felt as confused as I did.
"Say what?" Marco asked.
She laughed self-consciously. "I couldn't tell you before, but Zoë Carter wasn't my real
name. My real name is Sera Crichton. My real parents and I were under witness protection. My
parents thought it would be better if I started my new life if I lived with their friend Sam."
"Why were you under witness protection?" Cassie asked her gently.
"I'm not too different from Tobias, actually. Although I'm more half-human, half-alien than
he is. Before I was born, my dad tested a slingshot theory in Earth's orbit. He got lost in space
and he met my mum - a Sabacean. Sabaceans have similar physiology to humans. So when
my dad found a way home to Earth, he brought her with him. The got married and had me.
Then the authorities of Australia - where I was born - found out about my mum they tried to
arrest her and do tests and stuff on her. But the government stopped that and put us all under
witness protection when I was three. I've live in the States since then." She looked at us. We
must have had weird looks on our faces, because she then said, "Hey, guys, don't get all weird
on me. I'm still the person you knew. I'm more human than Sabacean anyway. For instance,
Sabaceans suffer from being cold-blooded...."
"Your cold-blooded?" Marco asked doubtfully.
"No! Why the hell would I live here if I was. I'd be insane by now." She looked at me, saying
sorry with her eyes. I looked at Jake. He had a look that said I don't believe her. Rachel saw
the look too.
"I'm not saying I don't believe you, cause I know you'd never intentionally lie, and I know
that witness protection rules apply to everyone. But just so that everyone," she looked
pointedly at Marco, Jake and Cassie, "believes you, is there some way that you are different
that you can show us?"
Sera thought for a moment. "Hey, Ax. Could you pass me that knife," she said pointing at a
knife on the other side of the table.
Ax passed her the knife. I realized he'd been very silent during this revelation. I guess he
didn't know what to make of it. I guess I didn't either.
Sera took the knife and placed it along her arm. I realized what she was going to do.
"What are you doing?" I asked, grabbing the knife from her. She sighed and took the knife
back and cut her arm about an inch in length. A red/blue colour blood seeped from her wound.
It may have been a red colour, but it definitely wasn't human blood red.
Cassie, Marco, Jake and Rachel seemed shocked. So was I, but not to that extent that they
were. Ax was only slightly fazed.
"It seems our group gets more and more weird everyday," he said.
"You're not wrong there, Ax-man," I agreed.
*******************
SERA
After I told my friends who I really was, I felt great. As if a great weight had been lifted off
my shoulders. I only felt guilty about not telling Tobias when we first met.
It was a great day at college, today. I settled into all my classes really well so I wasn't far
behind on what they learnt. But during the day I got a message from Rachel that Erek the
Chee wanted to talk to us after our last class.
So, after last class, I headed towards Marco and Jake's apartment - also next door to Tobias'
apartment. On my way I saw Tobias walking up ahead of me. I ran to catch up with him. Since
last night I hadn't spoken to him and he hadn't talked to me.
"Tobias...I..." I caught up with him, but I couldn't think of what to say without crying. But
I'd done enough of that lately. "Tobias, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. I wanted to, believe
me," I said quietly as I walked next to him. Oh great, now I sounded like a wimp.
He stopped and looked at me. "What are you apologising for?" he asked, confused. "I'm not
angry at you for not telling me. I understand why you didn't. And as far as I am concerned
you are human. Now come on, we're going to be late." He squeezed my hand and that washed
away all my guilt.
When we arrived at Jake and Marco's apartment, we were the last to arrive. Again. We sat
down and Erek started his weekly report on the Yeerks. I didn't like what I heard.
"Visser One is now sending a second invasion team to another place on Earth. The leader of
that invasion will be Sub-Visser 5. I believe he is a student at college. He'll be using that as his
aid to get overseas. He'll be an exchange student." Erek reported.
"Where're they going?" I asked, a knot forming in my stomach for a reason I only sub-
consciously knew.
"We believe they're heading for Australia."
"WHAT?!!!"
"Sera, calm down," Tobias said. But he too was panicked by my reaction.
"I'm going."
"Sera, you can't go," Rachel pointed out.
"Watch me. I don't care if none of you go, but there is no one to protect them down there.
No one." I wasn't thinking clearly - even I knew that much. But I knew what I had to do. I left
the apartment to go book a plane flight.
********************
I stormed all the way to the airport. So I had a good 20 minutes of storming. I was calm
enough when I bought my plane ticket for the next day. I had a pretty good idea who had
given them the idea for using Australia as a back-up invasion point. Me. I was the only
Australian Human-Controller they'd had. So who else would have let them know of its
individuality?
My plane left at 12 noon the next day, so I had time to acquire at least one powerful morph.
I didn't have any yet. The Ellimist had erased the two morphs from my body when he remade
me Sera again. I knew just where to go to get one or two powerful morphs. But first I had
another trip to make.
I caught a cab to the hairdressers and got my hair cut to above-shoulder length. I thanked
the hairdresser and caught another cab to the street just before The Gardens. If was after
dark so I knew the park was closed. I walked the rest of the way The Gardens and came to
the main entrance way for the staff. It was a three-meter fence with a locked gate.
I didn't bother with the gate. I started climbing up the fence and climbed over it in record
time. My next challenge would be getting inside. It was actually easier than I thought.
Someone had forgotten to lock the door. I was too hyped up on adrenaline to realize someone
else was there.
I knew which animal I was going to morph...Well, wanted to morph. A Siberian Tiger. Or
white tiger as they're more commonly known as. I found the cage and walked right in. Most
people would be terrified about being in the same proximity to a tiger. But me? I practically
worshipped tigers. I loved them to death. I had no fear of them. I knelt next to the tiger, who
was dozing, and acquired its DNA.
"You know, tigers are man-eaters," a voice said behind me. Any other time I would have
jumped from fear. But not this time.
"What do you want, Jake?" I asked turning around.
"You're a pretty good gymnast to be able to climb over that fence," he said avoiding my
question.
I grabbed him roughly by his collar, slightly blocking his airway. "I'm even better at self-
defense, so don't push your luck. No let me ask you again: What do you want?" I let him go
and started walking to the exit.
"We're going with you."
I stopped dead in my tracks. "How are you going to explain to your parents?"
"We're not. We're just going to say we're going on a holiday and we'll be back soon," he
shrugged.
I smiled and almost laughed. "Well, pack your bags. It's gonna be a rough ride."
So after all of our classes finished we left for the mall. With Rachel leading the way, as per
usual.
When we got there we saw the girl Tobias and Rachel had described. She was Tobias'
height, had short brown hair that sat just above shoulder length and pale skin- but it wasn't
white, white-pale, it was just white-pale. But what got me were her eyes. They were the
colour of the ocean on a calm day - blue, in every sense. But I'd never seen her before, yet I
was sure I had known her. She was dressed completely in black - black jeans and a black
midriff singlet top with little silver stars all over it.
She'd probably been here a while because she had a couple of The Gap shopping bags and a
plain black box. We walked up to her and she almost smiled.
"Thought you might show," she said.
"Well, you asked us to show," Tobias pointed out. This time Sera smiled. But it was a sad
smile and directed mainly at Tobias.
"I'm sorry for Zoe's death. But I guess it's kind of my fault," she said. "But you have to hear
what I want to say. Come to the park with me and if you still want to kill me or hand me over
to the police then you can after I talk to you." She sounded reasonable, and I didn't think it
would come to that at the end.
But Tobias on the other hand was fuming at what she had said. Sera looked desperate to
get us out of the mall and into the park. And Tobias' anger was only fueling her desperation.
"Look, Tobias. If I had the chance to do it all over again I would. The flight home, getting
shot down, dying, everything if I knew it would keep every single one of you safe," she hissed.
That caught our attention.
Suddenly I realized why her eyes looked familiar - they were Zoe's eyes. Sera was Zoë.
The others seemed to realize that as well. Now Sera, no Zoë, was desperate to get out of
here. Everyone followed her to the park and we sat down somewhere in the middle.
"How do we know you're Zoë?" Cassie asked cautiously.
"You don't," she said. She opened the black box she'd been carrying and took out a blond
wig and put it on. Then she extended her wrist. "I'm not Zoë physically. But I am her
mentally, as well as Sera. But from now on I'm Sera." On her wrist there was a scar on her
wrist that exactly matched the one Zoë had.
I realized that Rachel and Marco had been silent since we left the college grounds. But now
Rachel grabbed Sera/Zoe's wrist and looked at the scar.
"What happened?" she asked. "And what do we call you?"
Sera smiled a sad smile again. "You call me Sera, either that or you're going to end up
killing me. Anyway, long story short: I hate Crayak and I love the Ellimist."
"Why would we go and kill you. After all, you are a reborn version of our dead friend so it
kinda makes you like a zombie..."
"Marco," I warned him.
"What? I was leading up to a non-sexist, non-violent joke," he defended himself.
"What has this got to do with Crayak and the Ellimist?" Tobias asked her.
Sera pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. "Listen, later I can talk. But first I
need to know what you're going to do with me. I was going to re-enroll in college as Sera
but..." She let it hand there. Then she gasped. "Ohmygod, the Hork-Bajir," she said softly.
"How are they?"
"They're okay," I informed her. "And...we're not going to do anything. If you want to stay
and fight, then you can. Can you still morph?"
"I could if I'd acquired an animal," she said. "This is a new body with similar markings to my
old one and a completely new genetic DNA pattern. I don't have any morphs. I only had two
as Zoë anyway. Why?"
"Are you going to stay and fight?" Marco asked her.
"If I'm wanted," she said.
Cassie walked over and hugged her. "Believe me when I say you're wanted.
"Ok, I'll stay. But at this very moment I think I'll go visit the Hork-B. I'll catch you later."
She said as she walked away. She was still wearing the blond wig.
"Sera. Wig!" I called out. She got the idea and pulled off the wig.
"Hey, Sera. Was it worth it?" Rachel called out.
"Hell, yeah," came the far away sound answer. As she passed a bin, Sera threw away the
wig.
****************
SERA
I walked through the woods surrounding the Hork-Bajir valley I had known as home. It
would be a fairly long hike, but I had been dead for the past few days, so I had a fair bit of
energy to do things I wouldn't normally do. Before, if I left the valley, I flew in morph because
it's quicker and easier to find my way back.
Zoë. Tobias thought-speak voice filled my head and I jumped from sheer fright of being
caught of guard. It also made me lose what I'd been thinking.
You okay? Tobias was in red-tail hawk morph. He flew down and demorphed. "You
okay?"
"Uh, yeah. Of course." I tried to get rid of my shakiness.
"Then why are you going in the wrong direction. The Hork-Bajir live in the north-west of the
woods," he said.
"Well, I guess that's what I get for thinking too much," I said lightly. "Tobias, call me Sera.
Please," I looked down as I said it, and I said it quietly.
"You'll always be Zoë to me. No matter if you change your name or hair colour or
whatever."
I felt a tear form in my eye and I turned away. "So, uh, which was is north-west," I asked
him, sniffling.
"Zo...Sera."
"Don't, okay. Just don't."
I felt his hands slide around my waist and pull me closer to him and he held me tightly. And
I cried.
"Shh. It's okay," he said.
"No, it's not. Ok, you asked a question before and I didn't answer. Crayak killed me. Not
Visser One. I killed me. I made a deal with Crayak, to keep you all safe. And the Ellimist, he
brought me back. So it's not okay, okay?" I said all of this with sniffles and sobs in-between
words.
Tobias' grip on me slacked for a second, but he pulled me closer and hugged me tighter.
"Don't worry about it. We've all had run ins with Crayak," he said quietly. "No big deal. You're
here aren't you?"
****************
TOBIAS
I held Zoë...no, Sera. I held Sera while she cried. My guilt washed away when I saw how
much she felt. She'd made a decision that changed her life...okay, well, it killed her. But she
still made the choice for us.
And I still loved her.
She may not have realized that yet, but it is true. Regardless of her name. What's not to
love about someone who gives their own life for yours. And who said that they would do it
again for you.
She still looked gorgeous with brown hair. It wasn't much darker than her blond hair.
Although, her blond hair had been longer.
"Damn it. It's too dark. I can't get to the valley tonight," she said softly. I looked up and
realized it was too dark to walk through the woods without getting attacked by wild animals -
wolves, owls etc.
"We'll stay here. We'll just light a fire - which should scare most animals away. And I have a
couple of good morphs. I can morph it need be," I told her. She nodded. She gathered some
sticks together and some stones to keep the fire in one place. We were, after all, in the woods.
We didn't want to start a bushfire.
It wasn't a particularly cold night but it was cool enough that sitting in front of a fire was the
perfect temperature. Sera sat quietly. She'd stopped crying a short time and was now lost in
thought, like she had been when I'd caught up with her. I had to ask her something, and I
wasn't sure how she would take it.
"Sera. Can I ask you a personal question?" I asked her, softly so I didn't scare her again.
She lifted her face to look at me. "Shoot."
"Did you....did you love me?"
"Yes." She didn't hesitate, didn't think. She just answered. "I still do."
I got up and sat next to her and held her again.
"I'm sorry for what I put you through," she whispered.
I put my finger on her lips to quiet her. Then I kissed her. I couldn't help it, I guess. But,
hey, I'm a guy. She kissed me back and put her arms around my neck.
*************
2 DAYS LATER
"So...did Mister Ellimist give you a background in case someone gets suspicious?" I asked her,
as she, and the others, sat around a diner table at Rachel and Cassie's apartment.
She hesitated. "I actually already had this life before. A long time ago."
I'm sure everyone else felt as confused as I did.
"Say what?" Marco asked.
She laughed self-consciously. "I couldn't tell you before, but Zoë Carter wasn't my real
name. My real name is Sera Crichton. My real parents and I were under witness protection. My
parents thought it would be better if I started my new life if I lived with their friend Sam."
"Why were you under witness protection?" Cassie asked her gently.
"I'm not too different from Tobias, actually. Although I'm more half-human, half-alien than
he is. Before I was born, my dad tested a slingshot theory in Earth's orbit. He got lost in space
and he met my mum - a Sabacean. Sabaceans have similar physiology to humans. So when
my dad found a way home to Earth, he brought her with him. The got married and had me.
Then the authorities of Australia - where I was born - found out about my mum they tried to
arrest her and do tests and stuff on her. But the government stopped that and put us all under
witness protection when I was three. I've live in the States since then." She looked at us. We
must have had weird looks on our faces, because she then said, "Hey, guys, don't get all weird
on me. I'm still the person you knew. I'm more human than Sabacean anyway. For instance,
Sabaceans suffer from being cold-blooded...."
"Your cold-blooded?" Marco asked doubtfully.
"No! Why the hell would I live here if I was. I'd be insane by now." She looked at me, saying
sorry with her eyes. I looked at Jake. He had a look that said I don't believe her. Rachel saw
the look too.
"I'm not saying I don't believe you, cause I know you'd never intentionally lie, and I know
that witness protection rules apply to everyone. But just so that everyone," she looked
pointedly at Marco, Jake and Cassie, "believes you, is there some way that you are different
that you can show us?"
Sera thought for a moment. "Hey, Ax. Could you pass me that knife," she said pointing at a
knife on the other side of the table.
Ax passed her the knife. I realized he'd been very silent during this revelation. I guess he
didn't know what to make of it. I guess I didn't either.
Sera took the knife and placed it along her arm. I realized what she was going to do.
"What are you doing?" I asked, grabbing the knife from her. She sighed and took the knife
back and cut her arm about an inch in length. A red/blue colour blood seeped from her wound.
It may have been a red colour, but it definitely wasn't human blood red.
Cassie, Marco, Jake and Rachel seemed shocked. So was I, but not to that extent that they
were. Ax was only slightly fazed.
"It seems our group gets more and more weird everyday," he said.
"You're not wrong there, Ax-man," I agreed.
*******************
SERA
After I told my friends who I really was, I felt great. As if a great weight had been lifted off
my shoulders. I only felt guilty about not telling Tobias when we first met.
It was a great day at college, today. I settled into all my classes really well so I wasn't far
behind on what they learnt. But during the day I got a message from Rachel that Erek the
Chee wanted to talk to us after our last class.
So, after last class, I headed towards Marco and Jake's apartment - also next door to Tobias'
apartment. On my way I saw Tobias walking up ahead of me. I ran to catch up with him. Since
last night I hadn't spoken to him and he hadn't talked to me.
"Tobias...I..." I caught up with him, but I couldn't think of what to say without crying. But
I'd done enough of that lately. "Tobias, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. I wanted to, believe
me," I said quietly as I walked next to him. Oh great, now I sounded like a wimp.
He stopped and looked at me. "What are you apologising for?" he asked, confused. "I'm not
angry at you for not telling me. I understand why you didn't. And as far as I am concerned
you are human. Now come on, we're going to be late." He squeezed my hand and that washed
away all my guilt.
When we arrived at Jake and Marco's apartment, we were the last to arrive. Again. We sat
down and Erek started his weekly report on the Yeerks. I didn't like what I heard.
"Visser One is now sending a second invasion team to another place on Earth. The leader of
that invasion will be Sub-Visser 5. I believe he is a student at college. He'll be using that as his
aid to get overseas. He'll be an exchange student." Erek reported.
"Where're they going?" I asked, a knot forming in my stomach for a reason I only sub-
consciously knew.
"We believe they're heading for Australia."
"WHAT?!!!"
"Sera, calm down," Tobias said. But he too was panicked by my reaction.
"I'm going."
"Sera, you can't go," Rachel pointed out.
"Watch me. I don't care if none of you go, but there is no one to protect them down there.
No one." I wasn't thinking clearly - even I knew that much. But I knew what I had to do. I left
the apartment to go book a plane flight.
********************
I stormed all the way to the airport. So I had a good 20 minutes of storming. I was calm
enough when I bought my plane ticket for the next day. I had a pretty good idea who had
given them the idea for using Australia as a back-up invasion point. Me. I was the only
Australian Human-Controller they'd had. So who else would have let them know of its
individuality?
My plane left at 12 noon the next day, so I had time to acquire at least one powerful morph.
I didn't have any yet. The Ellimist had erased the two morphs from my body when he remade
me Sera again. I knew just where to go to get one or two powerful morphs. But first I had
another trip to make.
I caught a cab to the hairdressers and got my hair cut to above-shoulder length. I thanked
the hairdresser and caught another cab to the street just before The Gardens. If was after
dark so I knew the park was closed. I walked the rest of the way The Gardens and came to
the main entrance way for the staff. It was a three-meter fence with a locked gate.
I didn't bother with the gate. I started climbing up the fence and climbed over it in record
time. My next challenge would be getting inside. It was actually easier than I thought.
Someone had forgotten to lock the door. I was too hyped up on adrenaline to realize someone
else was there.
I knew which animal I was going to morph...Well, wanted to morph. A Siberian Tiger. Or
white tiger as they're more commonly known as. I found the cage and walked right in. Most
people would be terrified about being in the same proximity to a tiger. But me? I practically
worshipped tigers. I loved them to death. I had no fear of them. I knelt next to the tiger, who
was dozing, and acquired its DNA.
"You know, tigers are man-eaters," a voice said behind me. Any other time I would have
jumped from fear. But not this time.
"What do you want, Jake?" I asked turning around.
"You're a pretty good gymnast to be able to climb over that fence," he said avoiding my
question.
I grabbed him roughly by his collar, slightly blocking his airway. "I'm even better at self-
defense, so don't push your luck. No let me ask you again: What do you want?" I let him go
and started walking to the exit.
"We're going with you."
I stopped dead in my tracks. "How are you going to explain to your parents?"
"We're not. We're just going to say we're going on a holiday and we'll be back soon," he
shrugged.
I smiled and almost laughed. "Well, pack your bags. It's gonna be a rough ride."
