Disclaimer: I don't own the original Animorphs so please don't sue because I spent all my money on Animorphs books yesterday!

Chapter 4

I was shocked.

There was no other word for it, I had dreamed of saving the world from creatures like the Yeerks, I had never had any idea my dreams would come true. We had just got out of the woods, it was amazing how we could find the way out when we had the Earth's future on our hands.

"Right then. Now that's over, why don't we deal with the more important things," Lee said.

"James and Ruthi,

Sitting in a tree,

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

First comes love,

Then comes marriage,

Then comes a baby in a BMX." He sang, I would've laughed, but I had more important things on my mind.

"Oh shut up," said Ruthi harshly.

"I like the BMX idea," James said, "But I think we have something else to worry about, Lee." James was right, the definitely had something to worry about. A sudden thought hit me.

"What if the Empax are infesting our families as we speak?" I asked the others.

Lee was shocked by the thought of it. And he was obviously putting his brain to work, Ruthi looked scared, James, well I think he was off in his own world.

"James, snap out of it," I snapped at him. He looked at me, startled.

"I was just wondering, what it would be like if we'd never gone for a stroll," he said quietly.

"I'd love to daydream about that too, but Controllers could be at our houses right now!" I said, my fast walk turning into a run.

"Correction. At your house, remember, all our parents are at your house," Lee shot at me, also starting to run,

"Whatever, let's just get home," Ruthi said, she was a year younger than all of us, she had every reason to be scared. But at times, she was the most confident. I wasn't running at my fastest, if I did only James would be able to keep up, Lee and Ruthi are both quite short and not the fastest runners.

"We've gotta get faster," James said from right next to me.

"There's no way, we've still got to run a mile, that could take half an hour," I replied to him. "Unless," we were just one road away from the Gardens, my grandmother worked there and my Mom helps out there sometimes.

"You're not saying we aquire our first morph are you?" Lee said, he'd worked it all out.

"Precisely, it might take a while, but we'll get there in super fast time," I said.

"But what morph? I know wolves are fast but people – and controllers- are going to notice a wolf running down the street." Ruthi asked.

"Bird morphs," I said, as if it was all-simple.

"I guess, but I get the Red-Tailed hawk," James said.

"If there's one there," I said, and without another word we all ran in the direction of The Gardens.

As if the weather had known how we were feeling, rain started spitting at me. A few seconds more it became thunderous rain. But it was nothing compared to the cold I had felt in the forest.

When we got to the Gardens I was drenched. My clothes dripped all over the place.

"Looking a bit wet, eh Tina?" I turned around, the woman in the little glass office, Sharon, had spoken to me. I see Sharon all the time, especially when my Mom has time off and my whole family visits.

"I suppose you want to go and feed the wild cats again?" she asked me.

"Actually, me and my friends would like to see the birds," I told her, she seemed slightly surprised.

"That's an unusual request, coming from you Tina, I trust you know where it is, just through the door at the left and then turn right," she said. She sounded distant. She sounded far away.

"Yeah, I know," I replied, and I whisked my friends towards the door.

"Hey, what about the entry fee?" Sharon shouted from the glass office.

"We'll pay it later!" I yelled, I guess she took that as an answer. Because she didn't say anything further. Sharon was a persistent person, so it slightly troubled me that she was so carefree. Slightly.

"Great! I'm soaked," Lee moaned, looking at his dripping clothes.

"At least you don't have to play football in this tomorrow," James said, a little on the down side.

"Wouldn't they cancel it?" asked Ruthi.

"Nah, not until tomorrow anyway," James replied.

We walked through the door at the left and through the next opening on the right. There was a beautiful display of birds, some real ones, and others fake.

I opened the backdoor that said 'staff only', I could be counted as a member of staff I guess.

"Wow, this is like going backstage to meet the stars!" Lee said excitedly. He was the only friend who had never been to the back part of the Gardens with me. Ruthi had been loads of times and James had been once on a family reunion.

"Except the stars are birds," Ruthi replied, she smiled in her sweet way.

I opened the cage of one of the birds, and careful not to frighten it, I replaced its food and water with spares.

"This is all very nice Tina but we didn't come here to play Animal hospital," I heard Lee's voice from behind me. I pressed my hand against the feathers of the bird, I concentrated on it just how my heart told me to. I was acquiring my first morph, and I didn't know what kind of bird it was. The small bird stopped moving and fell into the trance I had been told about. Swiftly, I withdrew my hand.

"Did you do anything?" James asked, I guess noone had been suspecting me to really acquire a morph.

"I got it," I said.

"No, you didn't, it's still in the cage, I can see it," Lee replied.

"That's obvious," Ruthi added.

"I meant I acquired my first morph," I told them.

"What?! That tiny thing?" Lee asked me.

"What it lacks in size, it makes up for it in speed," I said knowledgeably.

"You sound like Darall," Lee replied without thinking.

"Now what is it?" I asked.

"Since you knew so much about it, I thought you knew," Ruthi said.

"It wasn't close enough for me to see it," I replied, looking at what it said on the side of the cage.

"Huh? It's a falcon," I said, "A Peregrine."

******

Jeesh, that chapter was so short. It was only five pages long! I've been at Drama so I haven't had time to write. Thanks everybody for your reviews. In the next chapter they'll probably go home. I might not update for another two days, as I'm still at stupid drama, (Damn) I don't know what to write anyway. Sorry.

I'm working hard on my other fic at the mo. As well as my website, http://www.geocities.com/kirjava5089/ which is going on hiatus soon.

Rachelfan5000

PS: Sharon was based on my drama teacher, Sharon!