I'm sorry about taking so long to update this! I was lazy, and I figured
that I could use Fanfiction.net being down as an excuse for being lazy.
*BWA HAHAHAHA* Thank you all for your kind reviews, and I've realized that
I forgot to put a disclaimer up, so here it is:
K.A. Applegate, this is your work and this all belongs to you. Except for Charlotte and Katrina Price. They're mine. MINE I tell you!!! *clutches them* My preciousssssessssssss..
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In this crazy, lopsided world of aliens, there are three things I can be sure of. One, that Tobias will always be there for me. Two, that if I'm going down, I'm taking out the enemy with me. And three.
That Marco is an idiot.
"Did you see it? Boom! Like cool! My online war pals would've given their DSL connection to see it!" Marco was jumping up and down excitedly. I walked over to him and started to stare meaningfully at his head. "What?" He asked me after I did that for about two minutes.
"I'm trying to see if the squirrel left his brain in there, but it's hard to tell, what with all this empty space." I replied. Marco scowled. I smirked.
We were all in Cassie's barn. Ax was in his human morph, of course. Tobias sat up in the rafters, watching out for Cassie's parents. Jake was being unusually quiet. Cassie was visibly upset. I think they were considering how close we had come to being burnt into a crisp. But hey, we escape death almost on a daily basis. No time to mope.
"I find-duh human humour, hue-mour to be strangely inappropriate. Pree. Preeeeee. P-row. Roooooow." Ax said suddenly. We stared at him, and not because of the mouth sounds. "We seem to have-vuh lost. Tuh. Tuh. Lost-tuh our only lead-duh."
"What did he say? I seem to have-vuh lost-tuh his train-nuh of thought- tuh." Marco said.
I ignored Marco. "Ax is right. We've lost our only lead. What do we do now?" I looked at Jake. Through all our battles, Jake's become our leader. It's an unconscious thing, I guess. I mean, he's never raised his hand and said 'all hail me', but we follow his orders. And most of the time that turns out to be a good idea.
"Aside from asking Eric for help, I don't really know." Jake said. "But I did find this from the house before it blew up."
"Boom!" Marco exclaimed. We stared at him. "Never mind."
Jake spread out a piece of paper on the work table. We crowded around it. It was crumpled and covered in some strange slimy liquid. The words were smudged and pretty hard to make out.
"Why does the paper look like it swam through a swamp?" Cassie asked.
"I uh. I had to cram it in my mouth while I was running out of the house." Jake looked embarrassed.
"Ewwww!!!" Marco and I cringed.
"Squirrel juice!" Marco exclaimed. "Jake, man what were you thinking?"
"Squirrels have pouches in their cheeks. It's only natural instinct to keep foraged food in their mouths. But squirrels don't salivate that much." Cassie picked up the paper gingerly. "Did you drop it into something?"
"It uh. Was still in my mouth when I morphed." Jake explained. Cassie dropped the piece of paper as if it was burning. She discreetly wiped her fingers on the back of her jeans.
"What does it say? Sssssss." Ax asked.
It looks like a receipt. Tobias put in. From the Holiday Inn. I know the place. A couple of pigeons have a nest under the highest balcony.
"Whoever left this behind stays in room 0313." Jake said, peering at the receipt. "At least, it looks like room 0313." I peered at the paper. The numbers were covered with Jake juice and were extremely blurred, but it definitely looked like 0313.
"Thirteen." Marco said mysteriously. "The unlucky number." He blew at my neck, trying to give me goosebumps. I glared at him. He backed down.
I'll go check it out. Tobias said, spreading his wings.
"Wait, take Rachel with you." Jake said. I smiled. Action! "But this is only to check it out. Don't do anything. At all."
"Sure." I murmured, already focusing on my bald eagle morph.
"I mean it, Rachel. Just go as a scout, and then come back and we'll decide what to do." Jake repeated.
"I ge." I lost the power to speak through my mouth as it hardened into a break.
"Man, you are not pretty, sister." Marco said. I glared at him with my dark, powerful eyes that could see every blackhead on his hideous face. "Just kidding." He quickly added. I ignored him and soared out of the barn, trusting Tobias to follow me. He shot ahead of me and led the way.
We had to fly slightly apart. Bald eagles and hawks don't exactly shoot the breeze together. I could tell Tobias was thinking heavy thoughts from the way he was flying. His movements were robotic and looked automatic. He was letting his hawk take over the flying, and he didn't want to be disturbed.
Well too bad, Tobias. I want to talk.
Tobias? I asked.
Yes? Tobias replied.
Where do you think Charlotte is?
Flying free. I hated it when Tobias gave me vague answers that obviously meant something to him and someone else. But then again, since when was I ever an open book for him to read?
Tobias? I asked again after another silence.
Yes?
Why did you shoot Erin? It was a painfully personal question, I knew that, but I had to ask. After all, Erin was Elfangor's ex-girlfriend, according to Ax, and she could have told Tobias a lot about his father. I know from the sketchy stories Tobias sometimes forces himself to tell me that she had asked him to kill her. But why had Tobias done it? I watched him flap his wings hard against the sudden change in wind direction.
The silence was unbearable.
Just as I was about to apologise for asking, Tobias flared his wings and landed on a window sill. We're here. He announced.
Tobias.
Forget it, Rachel.
K.A. Applegate, this is your work and this all belongs to you. Except for Charlotte and Katrina Price. They're mine. MINE I tell you!!! *clutches them* My preciousssssessssssss..
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
In this crazy, lopsided world of aliens, there are three things I can be sure of. One, that Tobias will always be there for me. Two, that if I'm going down, I'm taking out the enemy with me. And three.
That Marco is an idiot.
"Did you see it? Boom! Like cool! My online war pals would've given their DSL connection to see it!" Marco was jumping up and down excitedly. I walked over to him and started to stare meaningfully at his head. "What?" He asked me after I did that for about two minutes.
"I'm trying to see if the squirrel left his brain in there, but it's hard to tell, what with all this empty space." I replied. Marco scowled. I smirked.
We were all in Cassie's barn. Ax was in his human morph, of course. Tobias sat up in the rafters, watching out for Cassie's parents. Jake was being unusually quiet. Cassie was visibly upset. I think they were considering how close we had come to being burnt into a crisp. But hey, we escape death almost on a daily basis. No time to mope.
"I find-duh human humour, hue-mour to be strangely inappropriate. Pree. Preeeeee. P-row. Roooooow." Ax said suddenly. We stared at him, and not because of the mouth sounds. "We seem to have-vuh lost. Tuh. Tuh. Lost-tuh our only lead-duh."
"What did he say? I seem to have-vuh lost-tuh his train-nuh of thought- tuh." Marco said.
I ignored Marco. "Ax is right. We've lost our only lead. What do we do now?" I looked at Jake. Through all our battles, Jake's become our leader. It's an unconscious thing, I guess. I mean, he's never raised his hand and said 'all hail me', but we follow his orders. And most of the time that turns out to be a good idea.
"Aside from asking Eric for help, I don't really know." Jake said. "But I did find this from the house before it blew up."
"Boom!" Marco exclaimed. We stared at him. "Never mind."
Jake spread out a piece of paper on the work table. We crowded around it. It was crumpled and covered in some strange slimy liquid. The words were smudged and pretty hard to make out.
"Why does the paper look like it swam through a swamp?" Cassie asked.
"I uh. I had to cram it in my mouth while I was running out of the house." Jake looked embarrassed.
"Ewwww!!!" Marco and I cringed.
"Squirrel juice!" Marco exclaimed. "Jake, man what were you thinking?"
"Squirrels have pouches in their cheeks. It's only natural instinct to keep foraged food in their mouths. But squirrels don't salivate that much." Cassie picked up the paper gingerly. "Did you drop it into something?"
"It uh. Was still in my mouth when I morphed." Jake explained. Cassie dropped the piece of paper as if it was burning. She discreetly wiped her fingers on the back of her jeans.
"What does it say? Sssssss." Ax asked.
It looks like a receipt. Tobias put in. From the Holiday Inn. I know the place. A couple of pigeons have a nest under the highest balcony.
"Whoever left this behind stays in room 0313." Jake said, peering at the receipt. "At least, it looks like room 0313." I peered at the paper. The numbers were covered with Jake juice and were extremely blurred, but it definitely looked like 0313.
"Thirteen." Marco said mysteriously. "The unlucky number." He blew at my neck, trying to give me goosebumps. I glared at him. He backed down.
I'll go check it out. Tobias said, spreading his wings.
"Wait, take Rachel with you." Jake said. I smiled. Action! "But this is only to check it out. Don't do anything. At all."
"Sure." I murmured, already focusing on my bald eagle morph.
"I mean it, Rachel. Just go as a scout, and then come back and we'll decide what to do." Jake repeated.
"I ge." I lost the power to speak through my mouth as it hardened into a break.
"Man, you are not pretty, sister." Marco said. I glared at him with my dark, powerful eyes that could see every blackhead on his hideous face. "Just kidding." He quickly added. I ignored him and soared out of the barn, trusting Tobias to follow me. He shot ahead of me and led the way.
We had to fly slightly apart. Bald eagles and hawks don't exactly shoot the breeze together. I could tell Tobias was thinking heavy thoughts from the way he was flying. His movements were robotic and looked automatic. He was letting his hawk take over the flying, and he didn't want to be disturbed.
Well too bad, Tobias. I want to talk.
Tobias? I asked.
Yes? Tobias replied.
Where do you think Charlotte is?
Flying free. I hated it when Tobias gave me vague answers that obviously meant something to him and someone else. But then again, since when was I ever an open book for him to read?
Tobias? I asked again after another silence.
Yes?
Why did you shoot Erin? It was a painfully personal question, I knew that, but I had to ask. After all, Erin was Elfangor's ex-girlfriend, according to Ax, and she could have told Tobias a lot about his father. I know from the sketchy stories Tobias sometimes forces himself to tell me that she had asked him to kill her. But why had Tobias done it? I watched him flap his wings hard against the sudden change in wind direction.
The silence was unbearable.
Just as I was about to apologise for asking, Tobias flared his wings and landed on a window sill. We're here. He announced.
Tobias.
Forget it, Rachel.