Chapter 8

I went over to Cassie's house shortly after I left the mall. She is really good at understanding people on a deeper level. She said not to worry, that yelling and threatening people was just Rachel's way of blowing off steam. I trusted her, seeing as she was Rachel's best friend. It was night, and I was just about to go to sleep, when I decided to check

my e-mail. I clicked the sign on button, and connected at 56k. It was a new computer, much better than my 38.8 modem. "You've got mail!" the computer said. I had three new e-mails. I recognized two of them right away. One was from Wickedclowns101@earthlink.net, which was Ross' e-mail address. The other was from Kim. But the third… It was from Thehunter999@immpoli.com. I opened it.

"Alyssa, I hope you get this tonight. Kim, Kevin, and Sam are sick, and we need you out by Ax's scoop. I also have new info. From the Chee. Meet us at midnight, see you there,

'Fearless Leader'

Jake. I checked my watch. 11:53. I had seven minutes. I stripped off my nightgown, leaving only my morphing suit. I opened my window, and prayed that no one was awake. With that, I began to morph my newest bird morph, the Snowy Owl. This time, the first thing to change, was my face. My nose and mouth melted together and extended into my curved beak. My eyes swelled to the gigantic size of an owl's, and suddenly, it became as bright as day. I vaguely felt the feathers erupt from my skin, the specially designed feathers that make no sound when wind passes across them. My bones hollowed, and my

pink human legs turned a deep yellow color, hardened, and became the ripping talons of the owl. Now, understand, I still had not shrunk. So right now, I was a five-foot tall owl. But, eventually, as the owl DNA reasserted itself of my human DNA, I began to shrink to the one-foot frame of the owl. When I was fully owl, I looked back to make sure no one was there, and I flew into the night.